SC to bar convicts from elections? | Fusion - WeRIndia

Many times people wonder why convicted people contest in elections. But, they cannot do anything on this. Sometimes, these convicted people win in elections even though many people do not vote for them.

If there is an option that these convicted people be barred to contest in elections, then there is a chance to have good political leaders in the country.

If the Supreme Court accepts the PIL seeking that people convicted in criminal cases be banned from contesting in elections for lifetime, then they will not have the chance of contesting in elections. BJP spokesperson and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay filed a petition about the contestation of convicted people in the elections. Generally, public servants are banned for life after their conviction. So, ‘why is this not applicable to political leaders?’ asks Ashwini Upadhyay.

Upadhyay also appealed that there is an urgent need in the country to make rules for legalization and de-communalization of politics. He said that the banning of political leaders for lifetime is not out of context because there is a huge impact on the society from these politicians’ contestation in elections. After all, the public servants even if they are convicted for a year, have a lifetime ban on their jobs. The politicians who are involved in criminal cases are damaging the entire society. So, there should be a provision of lifetime ban on such politicians for the sake of society.

At present, any politician who is convicted for two or more years should not contest in elections for six years after the completion of the sentence. A similar petition on electoral reforms is pending in the SC, says the bench that was headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu. Upadhyay’s plea with the petition was appended.

Due to being convicted in a fodder scam case and sentenced to five years in jail, the former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav could not contest in the elections.

Image Credit: Legaleagle86 at en.wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Supreme_Court_of_India_-_200705.jpg