Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: A slew of petitions seeking review of the Supreme Court judgement on debarring elected members from continuing as MPs or MLAs and arrested persons contesting polls were filed on Saturday.
The petition, filed by the President of Haryana Swatantra Party Ramesh Dayal, urged the Supreme Court to review its two verdicts delivered on July 10.
The apex court had held that a person, who is in jail or in police custody, cannot contest election to legislative bodies bringing to an end an era of undertrial politicians fighting polls from behind bars. This excludes in preventive detention.
Earlier, in a landmark judgement that may lead to decriminalisation of politics, the Supreme Court had struck down a provision in the electoral law that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts.
The apex court had also made it clear that MPs, MLAs and MLCs would stand disqualified on the date of conviction. The court had also said that Parliament has exceeded its powers by enacting the provision (Section 8(4) of the Representation of Peoples Act) that gives a convicted lawmaker the power to remain in office on the ground that appeals have been filed and pending.
However, parties across the political spectrum had called for passage of an another bill (Judicial Commission Bill) that will give the executive more say in appointments to the Supreme Court and high courts, besides slamming SC`s rulings on disqualification of convicted legislators and barring those in jail from contesting elections.
They called for the passage of the Judicial Commission Bill and opposed the scrapping of section 8(4) of the Representation of people`s Act by SC.
