The recent order of the Supreme Court barring a person in custody, whether convicted or not, from contesting elections is a recipe for disaster, opined Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry E M Sudarshana Nachiappan.
He told reporters on the sidelines of a private function here on Sunday that there were laws enacted by the Parliament to maintain law-and-order and deal with those flouting the law.
He also felt that the recent judgment would lead to anarchy as people could be jailed to score personal vendetta. “The people’s verdict in polls will be the natural casualty and frequent elections will become the norm”, he averred.
He was also of the opinion that the landmark RTI Act would not be effective in probing the assets and funding of politicians. “The RTI Act is a stand-alone legislation and an efficient tool in the hands of the common man to extract details on aspect of governance. It must not be morphed into a ‘brahmastra’ that can be misused,” he said, adding that those who were trying to increase its applicability were only ensuring its collapse.