Decriminalization of Indian Politics
Decriminalization of Indian Politics
Very recently you all must have heard about RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav not contesting the elections which even caused a great rift in his party. Now all the other parties this year seem a bit too shy to give tickets to candidates with criminal charges. How are both the stories linked? Laloo Yadav not contesting elections and parties not fielding tainted politicians do have a common ground- the July Supreme Court order. Let’s have a look at that order which led to decriminalization of politics to a great extent-
The whole story started with the NGO Lok Prahari filing a PIL in the apex court to strike down a few section of the Representation of People’s act 1951 (RPA). Actually as per a certain 8(4) of RPA, any convicted person can remain at his position of MP or MLA if he files a petition in a higher court within three months of his conviction. This one section gave an escape route to tainted politicians to remain in Parliament even after being convicted by a lower court. The matter went to SC bench which said that Section8(4) is “ultra vires” with the constitution of India or in a Lehman’s language it is unconstitutional as the constitution of India clearly states that any person convicted of any criminal charge can’t remain in the Parliament.
As per the order, any MP or MLA will immediately loose his membership from the day he faces conviction from any lower court and would not be able to contest elections until he is relieved of all the charges from the higher courts, in case of a re-appeal. On these ground, Rasheed Masood of Congress was the first MP to have lost his seat after he was convicted in a corruption scam by a session court. Laloo Prasad Yadav was the other MP to have lost his membership from Lok Sabha after being convicted by a lower court in the fodder scam.
It is to be noted that the charges must be criminal and serious enough for which the punishment exceeds for two year of imprisonment. This clause allays all the fears that any MP or MLA could be wrongly convicted by his opponent. Because only in very serious offences does court gives a punishment of more than 2 years of imprisonment. Also recently, the SC set a deadline of one year to complete trial proceedings of convicted MPs or MLAs within the date of framing of charges.
The Supreme court’s order could have been averted by a amendment bill but later on due to public pressure the govt. could not bring the amendments and thus one simple order of SC led to the exit of criminals from Parliament and Legislative Assemblies. Not just this, the SC in an order in 2013, provided for “Right to Reject” by availing a None of the above(NOTA) option in the voting machine. So that, if a person doesn’t prefer any of the given candidates, he can register a negative vote. With these recent improvisations in the electoral politics, we can expect the purification of Parliament which is also seen as a “Temple of Law and Order”.
