Govt against life poll ban over convictions

NEW DELHI: The Union government has opposed a plea seeking a lifetime ban on convicted lawmakers contesting elections, asserting before the Supreme Court that there is "nothing inherently unconstitutional in limiting the effect of penalties by time" to ensure deterrence while avoiding "undue harshness".

- Utkarsh Anand

Defending the existing legal provisions that limit the disqualification of convicted legislators to six years after completing their jail time, the Centre, in an affidavit submitted before the top court, argued that the impugned provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, are based on the principles of "proportionality and reasonability", and that Parliament, as the exclusive lawmaking authority, has the discretion to decide the period of disqualification or penalties for convicted lawmakers.

"The disqualifications made under the impugned sections are limited by time as a matter of parliamentary policy, and it would not be appropriate to substitute the Petitioner's understanding of the issue and impose a lifetime ban," the affidavit, filed by the Union law ministry on Tuesday, said.

Responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, the affidavit said: "The relief that the petitioner is seeking amounts to rewriting of the provision as it effectively seeks to read 'life-long' instead of 'six years' in all sub-sections of Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.'

The affidavit was filed in response to a February 10 order by a Supreme Court bench, led by justice Dipankar Datta, which questioned the rationale behind restricting the disqualification period to six years, observing that there exists an "apparent conflict of interest" in allowing a law-breaker to be a lawmaker. The court was hearing the PIL filed in 2016 by Upadhyay, challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and seeking a lifetime ban on convicted legislators.