Sir — Citizens of this country have whole-heartedly welcomed the Supreme Court’s landmark order because we all want our polity to be cleansed.
The court has rightly held that there is no reason why our elected representatives should be specially protected from disqualification pending appeals, when they are convicted for offences specified in the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Hopefully, political parties will now think a thousand times before giving tickets to those accused of criminal acts, except where they genuinely believe that the charges are politically motivated.
However, for the Supreme Court order to have its full impact, the judicial system must also ensure speedy trials. If cases take decades to settle and politicians know that, the deterrent effect of the order will be substantially reduced.
The heartening thing is that from now, on we won’t have to suffer the criminal-turned-neta any more. This also holds good for those charged/convicted in corruption cases.