NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday wondered if a deadline can be fixed for the trial of MPs and MLAs involved in various cases. A bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha was hearing a plea which sought to declare the provisions of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), which bar convicted politicians from contesting elections for six years, after serving jail term, as ultra-vires of the Constitution.
The court said, “It is better if cases against convicted parliamentarians and state MLAs be fast tracked, be finished preferably within six months.” During the hearing, senior advocate Dinesh Dwivedi, appearing for one of the intervenors Rakesh Upadhyay, said that according to existing provisions, even persons like Gurmeet Ram Rahim can fight elections six years after serving the awarded jail term.
Under the current law, a legislator is debarred for six years from contesting elections once he is convicted for heinous or moral offences. He said if a government servant is dismissed from service, there was no question of him coming back but politicians, after serving the jail term and the six year ban, are statutorily allowed to return to politics.
“Is it not discriminatory,” the counsel asked, adding that why should the disqualification be for six years only in the case of politicians. The hearing, however, remained inconclusive and would continue on September 12. During the previous hearing, the court had pulled up the Election Commission (EC) for not taking a clear stand on whether lawmakers should be barred for life from contesting elections after being convicted of heinous offences and sought a direction to the Centre and EC to fix minimum educational qualification and a maximum age limit for those contesting elections.