Reasoning Against the Judgment:

For a person to be qualified for the membership of legislature, RPA, 1951 states that one has to be an ‘elector’ as defined in Section 2(e). Section 2(e) defines an elector as “a person whose name is entered in the electoral roll of that constituency and who is not subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in Section 16 of the RPA, 1950.”

Since the law mentions Section 16 of RPA, 1950 as the basis of disqualification from being an elector, the SC relied on Section 62(5), which does not define ‘elector’ and only debars a person in jail from voting, not from contesting an election. Thus, Section 62(5) distinguishes between an ‘elector’ and a ‘voter’.

The Supreme Court’s judgement effectively amends the law passed by the Parliament.