New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday will rule on two important issues—whether candidates with criminal charges can contest elections and whether legislators can practise as advocates.
If people with criminal charges are barred from contesting elections it would be a big step towards decriminalization of politics and may end many political careers. The impending ruling has put the spotlight on people such as former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad who was convicted in a fodder scam case last December.
At present, a charge sheet does not debar a person from contesting elections and cases usually take years to be decided. As a tentative measure, on 1 November 2017, the Supreme Court had directed the centre to set up special fast track courts to try more than 1,581 cases pending against legislators.
The centre had said that ₹65 lakh will be required for setting up each court, amounting to ₹7.8 crore for 12 courts, which were then set up across 11 states.
A Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra will rule on a batch of petitions, including one by the non-governmental organization Public Interest Foundation seeking disqualification of politicians, including members of Parliament (MPs) and members of legislative assemblies (MLAs) from contesting elections, once charges are framed against them.
One petition has been filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson and advocate Ashwini Kumar, challenging the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which bars convicted politicians from contesting elections for six years after having served the jail term. The plea also sought a direction to the centre and the Election Commission (EC) to fix minimum educational qualifications and maximum age limit for candidates.
EC’s initial stand in court was that it supported decriminalization of politics through a lifetime ban on MPs and MLAs, who at present, can contest elections even after being convicted in criminal cases.
According to Milan Vaishnav’s book When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics, in 2004, while 24% MPs had criminal cases against them, those with serious cases made up 12%. By 2014, the numbers had risen to 34% and 21%, respectively.
On 28 September, the court is likely to rule on a limited aspect of the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case. It will decide on whether a larger bench needs to revisit a 1994 judgment, which said that the mosque was not an essential part of Islam.