Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections to five States, the Supreme Court is likely to decide whether elected representatives facing charges in a heinous offence will be eligible to contest elections or not.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar on Thursday said that the issue was “serious” and would be decided urgently “before the next elections”.
The Representation of Peoples Act mandates disqualification of only convicted lawmakers, but a petition currently pending with a Constitution Bench of the apex court suggests that an elected legislator must incur disqualification at the stage of framing of charge in a heinous offence. The court’s decision will also impact those facing trial in heinous offences and planning to contest elections.
Mentioning this petition before a Bench headed by Khehar, senior advocate Vikas Singh submitted that the petition was referred to a Constitution Bench on March 8, 2016 and since then there has been no progress. He requested the court to list the matter urgently as elections to five States are scheduled for next month.
The Bench, also comprising Justices NV Ramana and DY Chandrachud, said, “Surely we will constitute the Bench. Before the next elections, this question needs to be answered so people can know.”
The assurance from the Bench assumes significance since the court has been at the forefront of efforts to end criminalisation of politics. In February 2014, on the request of the court, the law Commission studied this aspect and gave its report suggesting that a new provision, Section 8B should be inserted in the Representation of Peoples Act.
The commission agreed that an elected legislator will stand disqualified on framing of charges against him in a heinous offence punishable with more than five years sentence.
The disqualification was proposed for a period of six years or till such time the charge is either set aside or the lawmaker wins an acquittal from court.
The court was dealing with three separate petitions, which spoke of increasing criminalization of politics and how the present law was inept to cure the situation. On August 27, 2014, a Constitution Bench in Manoj Narula vs Union of India case while dealing with a similar issue said, “…regard being had to the role of a Minister in the Council of Ministers and keeping in view the sanctity of the oath he takes, the Prime Minister, while living up to the trust reposed in him, would consider not choosing a person with criminal antecedents against whom charges have been framed for heinous or serious criminal offences or charges of corruption to become a Minister in the Council of Ministers.”
Statistics as available till 2014, suggested that 30 per cent of sitting MPs in lok Sabha had pending criminal cases against them. In States, about 1,256 legislators out of 4,032 sitting MlAs suffered from this defect. In Uttar Pradesh, 47 per cent of elected lawmakers suffered the blot of criminal cases, with some having as many as 14 murder cases against them.