 Jailed MPs, MLAs right to vote challenged
Published on July 18, 2007 by IANSViewed 668 times
The Supreme Court will take up for hearing on Wednesday a petition challenging the right of jailed MPs and MLAs to cast their vote in the presidential poll.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan decided to hear the petition filed Tuesday by advocate 'Goodwill' Indeevar.
Indeevar contended that the Section
62 (5) the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and a 1984 judgement of the Supreme Court on the issue together divested the jailed MPs and MLAs of their rights to vote.
Quoting the provisions of Section 62 (5), Indeevar said the electoral law divests all persons lodged in jail either as under trial or convict from voting rights. The only exceptions were people jailed under preventive detention laws.
The petitioner added that the 1984 verdict of the apex court on a petition by one Mahendra Kumar Shastri on the issue of voting rights of jailed people, said that the electoral law disqualifying prisoners from voting was equally applicable to all persons, including jailed MPs and MLAs.
Indeevar contended that despite this clear, the Election Commission, following a meeting with Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, was making special arrangements for jailed MPs and MLAs to cast their votes, provided they managed to obtain parole.
And in order to be able to cast their vote, many MPs and MLAs have moved courts for bail or parole, the petitioner said.
The bench of Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice Dalveer Bhandari, however, refused to accord a similar priority hearing another lawsuit by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma challenging the candidature of the ruling alliance presidential nominee Pratibha Patil on the ground that she allegedly owes debt to the public exchequer.
The bench told the petitioner that it is listed for hearing on July 26. Sharma has approached the apex court again challenging Patil's candidature after the Election Commission dismissed his application on the issue.
IANS
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