On Wednesday, the Center filed a counter-affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing a plea that seeks a permanent ban on politicians from contesting in elections after being convicted in criminal cases. It said that a lifetime ban would be harsh, adding that the current period of disqualification of six years is enough to act as a deterrent.
The government argued that the period of disqualification is solely a matter within the domain of legislative policy. The affidavit is in response to a petition filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyaya in 2016. He had challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 8 and 9 of the Representations of the People Act, 1951.
Under Section 8(1) of the act, the period of disqualification is six years from the date of conviction or imprisonment, six years from the date of release, as said by the government in the affidavit. While, the Section 9 states that public servants who had been dismissed for corruption or of disloyalty to the state shall be disqualified for a period of five years from the date of dismissal.
Ashwini Upadhyaya, in his plea had said that in both the cases, disqualification should be for life.
The Center stated that there is nothing unconstitutional in limiting the effect of penalties with time, and it is a settled principle by law. The affidavit said, “It is submitted that the issues raised by the petitioner have wide-ranging ramifications and clearly fall within the legislative policy of Parliament and the contours of the judicial review would be suitably altered in this regard.” It added that the court can strike down the laws as unconstitutional but not grant the relief of lifetime ban sought over. The current laws were constitutionally sound and did not suffer from the vice of excess delegation.
Center said that the Constitution had left the field open to Parliament to enact such further laws governing disqualifications as it deems fit. Parliament has the power both to determine the grounds for disqualification and the duration of it. It cited Articles 102 and 191 of the constitution.
Earlier in April 2013, the Supreme Court had held that MPs and MLAs convicted with a two-year sentence will be immediately disqualified from the house without getting three months to appeal. The UPA government pushed to negate this through an ordinance.