NEW DELHI: Responding to a plea seeking directions to debar MP/MLAs disqualified under the anti-defection law from re-contesting by-elections for five years, Election Commission of India (ECI) has informed Supreme Court that central government is the appropriate body to answer.
ECI in the plea filed by Congress MP Jaya Thakur that the issue in the case pertains to the interpretation of Article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution. It relates to matters that do not have a nexus with the conduct of elections in terms of the remit of the Commission under Article 324.
“Therefore, Respondent No. 1 is the appropriate party for adjudicating the prayers made in the present Petition,” the poll panel said. The plea had been told that once a member of the House incurs disqualification under the 10th Schedule, he or she cannot be permitted to contest again during the term for which he was elected as Article 172 makes membership of a House co-terminus with the term of five years of the House except in circumstances mentioned therein.
The poll body has also stated in the affidavit that ECI is a body established under Article 324 of the Constitution and is vested with the authority of superintendence, direction, and control of elections of elections for the conduct of elections to Parliament, State Legislature and offices of the President and Vice President. Thakur in her plea had argued that there is a concerted pan-India effort by political parties to render the Constitution’s 10th Schedule as otiose and redundant.
It was also contended that the plea while dealing with the importance of party politics in a democracy also highlights the requirement for having stability within the government to facilitate good governance. “The import of the provisions of Article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution and its consequential effect on an MP or MLA, who suffers disqualification under the 10th Schedule, would have to be considered
by this court which had no occasion till now to do so,” the plea had stated.