The Supreme Court on Monday directed the central government to file its response on a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 8 and 9 of the Representation of the People Act (RP Act), 1951.
The petition filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has sought life-long disqualification of MPs and MLAs who have been convicted of criminal offences.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan asked the Centre and the Election Commission of India to file their affidavit within three weeks, failing which the court may proceed to decide the matter on its own.
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As per Section 8 of the RP Act, those convicted for certain listed offences will be barred from contesting elections from the date of their conviction and will continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years after their release. Section 9 of the Act says those dismissed from government service for corruption or disloyalty to the state will be disqualified from contesting polls for a period of five years after the date of dismissal.
During the hearing, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, acting as Amicus Curiae, highlighted the pending cases pertaining to MPs and MLAs. He noted that despite several judgements from the courts, 42% of sitting Lok Sabha members have pending criminal cases against them.
The PIL has raised two main demands: a) Life-long disqualification of MPs/MLAs convicted in criminal cases and b) a one-year timeline for deciding criminal cases against government members.
