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The Supreme Court appealed to the Government and the Election Commission of India for putting a blanket ban on convicted persons from heading the Political parties and also suppressing them from becoming the office-bearers of the party. The bench comprising of Chief Justice, Dipak Misra along with two other Judges after observing the provisions of the Representation of People’s Act gave this decision.
The bench posed a question to the Election Commission of India, that whether the commission had powers to take the above actions by interpreting Section 29 (A) of RPA. Sidharth Luthra, a senior advocate who appeared for Ashwini Upadhyay on the PIL filed by him contended that those persons who are convicted in criminal cases gets debarred not only from contesting elections but also to head a political party. In order to prove his point, he interpreted the respective provisions of the RPA of 1951.
He also voiced out the conflict which arose with the intention of Section 29 (A) and also gave the prevailing examples like Mr. Lalu Prasad and Ms Shashikala and said that though they were convicted in many cases but still they are not debarred from being the head of the parties. After providing the relevant citations and interpreting the provisos of the act, the bench came to the conclusion that the commission had the powers. The ECI was also made to frame appropriate guidelines in order to ensure inner party democracy.
Upadhay, in his PIL had also added that there are a large number of persons who are still holding the parties although they were framed with the charges for serious offences committed by them. After all these contentions and various instances brought to light, the Supreme Court had directed the Government to permanently disqualify those persons who are convicted and also directed to try the Criminal cases involving the political persons within a stipulated period of time by the Special Courts.
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