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Cannot question voters' wisdom, says SC

Dismisses plea against barring convicted lawmakers for 6 years

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The Supreme Court on Monday observed that the wisdom of electorate cannot be questioned by the Parliament or the judiciary. The observation was made on the heels of a petition that sought judicial scrutiny of an electoral provision which disqualifies a convicted lawmaker from contesting polls for a period of six years from the date of his release after serving jail term.

"The wisdom of electorate is important," the bench comprising of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud said. The voters have a right to choose their candidate, the bench argued.

The bench also added that changing the rules, to include the lifetime ban for a convicted lawmaker, fell under the ambit of the legislation and not the judiciary. The bench said, it was the legislature which had stipulated the period of disqualification for convicted lawmakers and hence the issue does not fall under the domain of the judiciary.

The Chief Justice further observed that a legislation banning a convicted politician for life, could also infringe the politician's right to be part of the electoral process, especially in the case after he has served jail time and refrained from contesting elections for the mandated six years.

However, the bench submitted that at best, a proviso could be added in the current rules where the convicted lawmaker's criminal history could be highlighted to make the voters aware.

"Once disqualification has been attracted following the conviction, can disqualification be for a limited period of six years," senior advocate Siddharth Luthra asked. The senior advocate was appearing for petitioner Vijay Malik.

In his petition, Malik sought the setting up of an adequate infrastructure to set up a special court to decide the cases related to legislators and public servants within one year and debar convicted politicians from the legislature, executive, and judiciary for life.

According to the Representation of the People Act (RPA), a politician convicted and sentenced to a jail term of two years or more shall be disqualified from contesting polls for six years from the date of his release from prison after the conclusion of the term.

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