6.11. Banning religion and caste from election campaign

A seven-judge Supreme Court bench ruled by a 4-3 majority that “religion, race, caste, community or language would not be allowed to play any role in the electoral process”. It also said that election of a candidate would be declared null and void if an appeal is made to seek votes on these considerations. The court was interpreting the pronoun ‘his’ used in Section 123 (3) of the Representation of the People Act. The question referred to the Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur on a batch of election petitions.