SM Fasiullah for BeyondHeadlines
The Supreme Court has struck down a provision in the electoral law that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts.
This landmark judgement may be seen as a move to clean the political system. The Apex Court has decided that lawmakers convicted in criminal cases would cease to be elected representatives.
“The only question is about the vires of section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) and we hold that it is ultra vires and that the disqualification takes place from the date of conviction,” noted a bench comprising of Justice AK Patnaik and Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya.
“If an ordinary citizen does not get this kind of benefit while he remains a convict, why should MPs get it?” the bench asked.
Petitions were filed in the SC by Lily Thomas and an NGO Lok Prahari requesting the court to set aside the clause 8(4) of the RPA because this clause allowed the sitting MPs and MLAs to continue to be elected representative even after they were convicted in a court of law.
Under Section 8(3) of the RPA, a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from contesting elections. In addition, the person cannot contest for six years even after acquittal.
But the sub-section 8(4) protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification if he or she files an appeal in a higher court within three months.
The latest judgement may lead to several lawmakers in the Parliament and state assemblies losing their seats for being a convict.
According to Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), 1,460 sitting MPs and MLAs face criminal charges in various cases. About 688 of the total 4807 (analyzed sitting MPs and MLAs), have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
The ADR and NEW analysis show that Jharkhand 2009 Assembly has the highest percentage of elected representatives (74%) facing various criminal cases. Bihar Assembly comes next with 58% lawmakers facing criminal cases, followed by UP Assembly with 47% MLAs with criminal cases.
“82% of MPs and MLAs who have gotten elected on JMM tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves. 64% of MPs and MLAs who have gotten elected on RJD tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves,” ADR and NEW noted.
“48% of elected representatives who have gotten elected on SP tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves. 31% of MPs and MLAs who have gotten elected on BJP tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves (Out of the 1017 MPs and MLAs from BJP, 313 have declared criminal cases).
“21% of MPs and MLAs who have gotten elected on INC tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves (Out of the 1433 elected representatives from INC, 305 have declared criminal cases against themselves).”
The SC said its latest decision will not apply to convicted MPs and MLAs who have already filed their appeals in higher courts before the pronouncement of this verdict.
