National   

Debar jailed members from voting: PIL

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday a public interest litigation petition, seeking a direction to debar convicted MPs and MLAs, serving their sentence in prison, from casting their votes in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections.

A Bench consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari decided to hear the petition, filed by advocate Z.K. Faizan, after it was mentioned on Tuesday for early listing.

The petition sought a direction to the Election Commission not to permit the MPs and MLAs, numbering about 200, to cast their votes from prison.

The petitioner referred to the discussion between Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami on arrangements for the MPs and MLAs in prison to vote under special circumstances. The petition mentioned, among others, Mohd. Shahabuddin, Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, Umakant Yadav, Mukhtar Ansari, Amarmani Tripathi, Anand Sen Yadav and Akhilesh Kumar Singh.

“Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act says no person shall vote at any election if he/[she] is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise or is in lawful custody of the police.”Since the provision was intended to prevent criminalisation of politics in elections, it would be applicable to the Presidential polls too, the petitioner said. The court, however, declined to give an urgent hearing to another advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, who appealed against the Election Commission order declining to go into allegations against the UPA-Left Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil. It would be heard in the normal course on August 17. The Commission declined to go into his representation on the question whether she is an “undischarged insolvent or not” in view of irregularities allegedly committed by her and her family members in a cooperative bank and a sugar mill in Maharashtra.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Sushma urges UNPA to reconsider decision
Quota cases for 5-judge Bench
Debar jailed members from voting: PIL
Review health schemes, says Ramadoss
Delhi High Court allows Pappu Yadav to vote
Biometric PAN cards soon
Mayawati suspends magistrate for ‘coerced’ family planning
HUDCO scam: Ministry told to register cases
Brinda Karat raises ‘gender bias’ in Air Force
Constitution Bench to hear validity of Punjab law
“Curb on political rights”
Sex education: Lalu differs with Renuka
ESI Act to be reviewed
NACO to review sex education module
Will return to films: Monica

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu