8.2.1. Persons in custody to be debarred from contesting elections

As per the 2004 judgment of the Patna High Court in Jan Chaukidari vs. Union of India — upheld by the Supreme Court in July, 2013— all those in lawful police or judicial custody, other than those held in preventive detention, will forfeit their right to stand for election. The judges relied on the Representation of the People Act 1951 (RPA), which says that one of the qualifications for membership of Parliament or State legislature is that the contestant must be an ‘elector’. Since Section 62(5) of the Act prevents those in lawful custody from voting, the reasoning goes, those in such custody are not qualified for membership of legislative bodies.