The Government has decided to hold consultation with political parties to appropriately react to the Supreme Court landmark ruling on disqualifying convicted MPs and MlAs and debarring the jailed ones from contesting the polls. Expressing the unease with which the political class has taken the rulings, specially on preventing jailed persons from contesting polls, CPI(M) has asked the Centre to file a review petition in the SC against the order, while lJP leader Ramvilas Paswan has apprehended that political rivals could misuse the verdict to settle scores.
law Minister Kapil Sibal said that these judgements have wider ramification on the political system and he would discuss the matter within the Congress and other political parties to formulate the Government’s views on the issue. About whether an all-party meeting will be held to discuss the issue, he said that it will be decided by the Congress leadership.
Sources said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already been briefed by the law Minister about the legal lacunae and impractical provisions of the verdict.
On the face of it, the verdict is silent on at what stage a jailed person cannot contest elections. For example, it is not clear if he will or will not be allowed to contest election if he is arrested after filing his
nomination.
Also, there is ambiguity in case a politician is arrested for leading protest demonstration against the Government on a public cause. These are among several issues on which the absence of clarity could give scope for misuse, sources said.
Highlighting the legal lacunae in the judgements, sources said that MPs and MlAs are not appointed like bureaucrats and Government servants, but are elected by the people so under Section 8 (4) of the Representation of Peoples Act they were
treated differently.
“Moreover, the most serious issue is that in the judgement, the court has said that Parliament has no power to enact such a law to give breather to MPs and MlAs in case of conviction to file appeal. This is a serious challenge to the authority of Parliament under the Constitution to enact law. Parliament has been given all the power to legislate on the issues falling under the centre list and even in concurrent list,” they pointed out.
They also said that the court’s view that there should not be any distinction between disqualification incurred at the time of time of filing nomination and even after getting elected was not correct as the latter has wider political impacts.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) politburo has termed the SC judgement on banning a person in jail or custody from contesting as a “drastic” one. The party in statement on Friday urged the Government to file review petition including in the earlier judgement of disqualification of MPs and MlAs from the date of conviction.
“This is a drastic judgement which will infringe on the democratic rights of citizens. A person who is an under-trial prisoner who is not convicted of any offence or a person who is in police custody without having faced a trial and conviction will be deprived of the right to
contest elections.
“There are a number of false cases which are foisted on political activists. Further, there are lakhs of under-trial prisoners languishing in jail unjustly deprived of their basic liberties given the inefficiency and bias of the legal-judicial system. This judgement can lead to large-scale misuse. Ruling parties and Governments can get people behind bars in order to prevent them from contesting elections. The judgement is a case of judicial overreach and requires to be overturned,” said CPI(M).
In Patna, hailing the Supreme Court’s judgement disallowing jailed person from contesting lok Sabha or Assembly elections , lJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan apprehended that political rivals could misuse the verdict.
Paswan told newspersons in Patna on Friday that political rivalry among politicians is degenerating into some sort of personal rivalry and in such a situation, the verdict of the apex court could be misused.
He said that a person can be debarred from even filing nomination papers by his ruling rivals by arresting him on the charge of violation of election model code of conduct.
If a politician is put in a jail while just one day before he is going to file nomination papers for contesting elections, he will be left with no option other than giving up his plan to contest the election, he added.
Also welcoming the Supreme Court’s judgement striking down a provision in the electoral law that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts, he said that the judgement would help decriminalise the political system in the country and the judgement should be implemented with all the sanctity.