The slew of judgments from the higher judiciary in the period of just about a month or so has been like manna from heaven on the parched earth of electoral reforms. First, the Supreme Court frowned upon freebies, which it said “shake the root of free and fair elections.” Then came the verdict on Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act 1951 (the Act) being ultra vires of the Constitution and along with it the barring of jailed persons from electoral contest. For its part, the Allahabad High Court banned caste-based rallies, the staple of many a political party. Not to be left behind, the Central Information Commission added its mite by declaring that political parties came within the ambit of Right to Information Act (RTI)........... If the political class is getting worried, it is just as well because with growing number of legislators with criminal cases, there is a real threat of this ruling creating problems but only if pending cases get decided. The percentage of legislators with pending criminal cases is not less than 15 to 20 per cent in most Houses and the number is not small. Uttar Pradesh is said to have a whopping 50 per cent of criminally charged legislators. According to some newspaper reports, there is one legislator with as many as 36 cases pending, 14 of them for murder. Another ‘gentleman’ is an accused in 12 cases of murder, out of 20 pending cases. Should we shed a tear if such ‘distinguished’ people lose their membership because of the operation of this judgment?
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 02:56:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015