Delhi HC issues notice in challenge to EC decision to reduce disqualification term of Sikkim CM Prem Singh Tamang

The Delhi High Court has issued notice in a petition challenging the Election Commission of India’s decision to reduce the disqualification of Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang under Section 8(1)(m) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 from six years to one year and one month..Notice was issued by a Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and C Hari Shankar to the Election Commission, the Central government, the Sikkim government and Prem Singh Tamang in a petition by Dek Bahadur Katwal, the General Secretary of Sikkim Democratic Front..Apart from challenging the reduction of Tamang’s disqualification term, the petitioner has also assailed the constitutional validity of Section 11 of the RP Act on the ground that it provides uncanalised, uncontrolled, and arbitrary power to the Election Commission to remove or reduce the disqualification period under Chapter III of the Act..Tamang was convicted for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and was sentenced to imprisonment of more than one year in 2016, in connection with the misappropriation of monies in the Milch Cows Distribution Scheme of 1996..After serving the period of sentence, Tamang was released on August 10, 2018..It is the petitioner’s submission that in terms of Section 8, a six-year disqualification from contesting elections should have been put into effect till August 8, 2024..In March 2019, the Sikkim Krantikari Party named Tamang as its Chief Ministerial candidate. Thereafter, the party emerged victorious in the Assembly Elections held in April 2019. The government was thus formed with Tamang as the Chief Minister..As Tamang had not contested Assembly Elections from any seat, he had to win from a seat within six months in order to retain his post..Subsequently, on July 6, 2019, Tamang filed an application under Section 11 of the Act, seeking reduction of the disqualification period..One day before the last date of filing of nominations for the state by-elections, the Election Commission passed an order reducing the period of disqualification of Tamang, thus allowing him to contest the polls and to continue being the Chief Minister..It is the petitioner’s case that the reduction is wholly erroneous, based on perverse reasoning and is bad in law..The petitioner has further alleged that the Election Commission reduced the disqualification term of Tamang without any cogent or tenable reasons “to coincide with his Chief Ministerial aspiration”. .Submitting that Section 11 is manifestly arbitrary with no legal checks, the petitioner has stated,.“..the principles of due process and natural justice do not find mention in the quasi-judicial process contained under Section 11 of the RP Act, 1951, as no notice is required to be issue seeking comments from public at large, before reducing the period of disqualification.. .The petitioner has thus argued that the power under Section 11 should be exercised in “rarest of rare” case and the Election Commission’s order of reduction was “a step backwards into the dark ages in Indian demography wherein there was robust criminalisation of Indian politics.”.In view of the above, the petitioner has sought an order to set aside the reduction of disqualification term of Tamang as well as an order to declare Section 11 unconstitutional..The petition was filed through advocates Sudershan Goel, Siddharth Sharma and Shruti Arora. .The matter will be heard next on December 24..In July this year, the Supreme Court had issued notice in a petition challenging the appointment of Prem Singh Tamang as Chief Minister of Sikkim.