SC rejects plea to nullify election of lawmakers chargesheeted for offences punishable with more than 5 years imprisonment

The Supreme Court, on Monday, rejected a plea praying that election of persons charge-sheeted for an offence punishable with imprisonment of five years or more should be declared null and void..A three-judge Bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said that while it agreed with the petitioner's cause, the prayer was beyond the reach of the judicial domain and fell within the ambit of legislature since it required an amendment to the Representation of People Act, 1951 (RP Act). .The petition by NGO, Lok Prahari had sought time-bound and meaningful implementation of the unanimous resolution passed by the parliament in 1997 mandating that political life and process be free of criminalisation..The NGO's General secretary, SN Shukla, who appeared and argued on behalf of the NGO, submitted on Monday that in view of inaction by the Central government for the last 23 years, the only way out was for the Supreme Court to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 142 to prevent corruption in electoral politics.."SC, under Article 142 should declare that since Rule of Law and free and fair elections are basic features of our Constitution, pending enactment of law in terms of the directions /recommendations in the judgment of the Constitution Bench in WP (C) No.536/2011, election of persons charge sheeted by the Court a year ago for an offence punishable with imprisonment of five years or more, as Members of Parliament or state Legislature, thereby enabling them to subvert Rule of Law, shall be liable to be declared null and void u/s 100 (1) (a) (b) & (d) (iv) RP act,1951,"the petiton said. .However, the Bench which also comprised Justices Hemant Gupta and Ajay Rastogi stated that it is task of the parliament to effectuate an amendment to the RP Act to address the problem. It would not be prudent for the court to interfere into such legislative domain, the Bench added. ."There is a 2014 order passed by Justice RM Lodha where this exact question was referred to law commission. Law commission had said one cannot contest after charges are framed. We cannot direct this but the Parliament has to take a call,"Justice Nageswara Rao said..Shukla referred to judgment of Public interest Foundation case of 2014 to buttress his argument that no steps have been taken to implement directions or make a law to bar persons having serious criminal charges from entering politics..He also claimed that persons with criminal charges who are entering politics have increased manifold; but the Bench remained adamant. ."We are afraid that relief claimed in this plea cannot be granted by this Court. However, we leave it open to petitioner to pursue any remedy available to have the directions implemented issued by this Court,"the Supreme Court said. .The plea by Lok Prahari had stated that according to a report by Association for Democratic Reforms, 43 percent MPs in the current Lok Sabha face criminal cases and percentage of members with serious cases has doubled from 14% to 29% in the last 10 years."Blatant continued non-compliance for 6 years of the order dated 10.3.2014 in the writ petition (that cases against the sitting legislators be disposed of within 1 year from framing of charges) despite vigorous follow up by the Hon’ble Court in another WP (C) No. 699/2016, speaks volumes about the helplessness of the system against the law breaking ‘law makers’," the petition said.