Can’t contest polls from jail,rules SC

The only exception has been provided for those jailed under preventive detention

Delivering another blow to the political class,the Supreme Court has ruled that a person who is in lawful custody,including undertrials as well as those in police or judicial custody,cannot contest elections to the Lok Sabha or state assemblies.

On Wednesday,the court had held that MPs and MLAs will be disqualified as soon as they are convicted in a criminal case by a trial court.

The same bench of Justices A K Patnaik and S J Mukhopadhaya held that a person who cannot vote because he is jailed is not an elector under the Representation of the People Act,and therefore,he is disqualified from contesting elections.

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Section 62(5) of the Act,titled Right to vote,provides that a person shall not vote in an election if he is confined in jail or is in the lawful custody of the police. On the other hand,the Act also stipulates that a person must be an elector for a parliamentary or assembly constituency in order to contest an election.

The only exception has been provided for those jailed under preventive detention.

The court passed the order on an appeal filed by the CEC and others challenging a Patna High Court ruling. We do not find any infirmity in the findings of the high court… that a person who has no right to vote by virtue of the provisions of sub-section (5) of Section 62 of the Representation of the People Act,is not an elector and is therefore not qualified to contest the election, held the court.

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