Ban On Persons With Criminal Past From Contesting Elections: SC Says Matter Not Its Domain

New Delhi: The Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea seeking a bar on persons with criminal antecedents from contesting elections saying it was the domain of the Parliament.

A bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta & Ajay Rastogi on Monday further said that the petitioner could pursue any remedy available for effectuating implementing directions issued by the Court earlier in this regard, LiveLaw.in reported.

Today, Lok Prahari, through its General Secretary, Advocate SN Shukla told the court that the issue before the court today was to declare the candidature of those persons null and void who have been chargesheeted by courts for over a year and have been convicted with imprisonment for over 5 years.

“Election of such persons must be declared null and void as under Section 100 of the Representation of Peoples Act,” Shukla told the court, added the report.

The bench told Shukla that the exact question had been dealt with in the 2014 order passed by Justice RM Lodha which was then referred to the Law Commission.

Shukla then cited the 2018 judgment which had directed necessary amendments to Form 26 of Rule 4A of the Conduct of Elections Rules of 1961 so as to require candidates to declare their associates’ sources of income, LiveLaw.in reported.