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BJP leader and Supreme Court Ashwini Upadhyay has questioned the stand adopted by the central government led by his party and fiercely opposing it,
has gone against his party line and reiterated that Supreme Court should ban convicted person- criminal or corrupt- from heading a political party.
“This Hon’ble Court has emphasized and reiterated the need for ensuring and maintaining purity of highest legislative bodies. It is submitted that since the political parties choose candidates for these bodies, it is necessary that the persons controlling the party are themselves men/women of great character and integrity”, BJP leader and petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay to SC in his rejoinder.
Centre happened to oppose the blanket ban on convicted politicians from heading political parties saying appointment of a post-holder in a political party is a matter of party autonomy and it may not be apt to preclude the Election Commission from registering a party merely because a particular post-holder is not qualified to contest elections.
On which, Chief Justice Dipak Misra observed: “A convicted person can’t contest election. Then how can he form a political party and select candidates? What you cannot do individually, can you do collectively through some agents? That is our question.”
“A criminal deciding who the people should vote for by itself goes against the basic tenet of democracy”, he said. He is of the view that in order to ensure the purity of the electoral process, allowing criminals to head parties and select candidates goes against its earlier judgments that the corrupt has to be barred.
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