Resumen de Validating Election Law 2013 : A Bad Precedent
Elections are a cornerstone of democracy and the Parliament is the pillar of dignity for the democracy. The dignity of democracy can remain safe only if the dignity of Parliament itself remains intact. A person facing a criminal trial may stand for election and even get elected. No law prohibits it. The law disqualifies only convicts from standing for election. A person facing a criminal trial is only required under the law to furnish particulars of criminal cases pending in the court at the time of filing nomination for election so that a voter may have knowledge of the antecedents of the candidates in the fray.1 However, this requirement has limited impact. In a study on the criminal background of the legislators, an analysis was carried out by Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch which reported that 162 out of 543 Members of Parliament of 15th (present) Lok Sabha (House of the People) have pending criminal cases against them.2 Conduct of a criminal trial takes long years3 and till then a person facing criminal prosecution is eligible to contest an election from outside the jail and inside the jail. But a prisoner has no right to vote. In the year 2004, the Patna High Court directed the Election Commission of India (hereinafter referred to as the Election Commission) to consider countermanding elections to constituencies where prisoners, whose voting right had been suspended under the election laws, had entered the fray. In the view of the court, a person who has no right to vote, under the provisions of sub-section (5) of section 62 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as RPAct, 1951), is not an elector and is therefore not qualified to stand for election to the House of the People �
