‘Presidential election disputes to be decided by top court’

NEW DELHI: All disputes arising from the election of the President or Vice President can only be inquired and decided by the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court has said. Justice Sanjeev Narula, while dealing with a petition which sought to restrain legislators imprisoned in criminal cases from casting their vote in the recent Presidential election, said the plea was not maintainable as per the Constitution and the Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections Act which confer exclusive jurisdiction on the SC to hear such matters.

The judge dismissed the writ petition by a 70-year-old carpenter, who claimed to have unsuccessfully filed his nomination papers for the post of President. The court also said that the remedy in relation to a Presidential election was in the form of an ‘election petition’, and not a writ petition, after the declaration of the result.

The primary grievance of the petitioner was that the authorities were not taking any effective steps to remove or disqualify imprisoned lawmakers from the electoral college for electing the President of India and Vice President of India. 

The court also said that the petitioner did not state even a single instance where an imprisoned lawmaker was permitted to vote or act as a Member of Parliament or State Legislature.