6.3. Supreme Court refusal to ban politicians facing criminal charges from elections

♤ A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra dismissed a batch of petitions seeking the disqualification of politicians from contesting elections once charges are framed against them.

♤ The petitions were filed by NGO Public Interest Foundation, former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh, and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwini Upadhyay.

♤ The petitioners argued that there were 34% legislators with criminal cases against them after 2014 elections and that it was impossible that Parliament would introduce any law to stop the “criminalisation of politics”.

♤ The government’s argument was that a person is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty and added that the court cannot restrict a person’s right to vote, which also includes his right to contest.

♤ The court had earlier also observed that the Supreme Court cannot legislate for Parliament reasoning that they could not add disqualification of candidates on filing of chargesheet in criminal cases.

♤ However, the court has told Parliament to enact such legislation to ensure that candidates with criminal antecedents do not enter public life.