EC seeks regular reports on conviction of MPs,MLAs

EC principal secretary,K F Wilfred,has sent the directives following a Supreme Court judgment on July 10 that MPs and MLAs will be immediately disqualified if they are convicted in a criminal case. The court had struck down Section 8 (4) of the Representation of the People Act,1951,which protects convicted MPs and MLAs from disqualification if they appealed before a higher court within three months.

In his letter,Wifred quoted the SC judgment and stated that to monitor such cases,it is necessary to have a system in place so that cases of conviction of sitting members of Parliament and state legislatures are immediately communicated to the Speaker or Chairman of the House concerned and to the Commission. In order to ensure that cases do not go unnoticed,the commission has desired that the state governments may send to the EC a monthly report about cases of conviction,if any,of sitting MPs and MLAs. The state governments may submit their statements to the commission by the 15th of every month through the Chief Electoral Officer.

For the sake of uniformity in reporting,EC has prepared a model format in which the state governments will have to send the names of MPs,MLAs and MLCs convicted,name of the court which passed the order of conviction,sections under which conviction were ordered,the date of conviction and punishment and sentence passed.