Representation of People (RP) Act bars convicted politician from contesting elections for six years after serving jail term. However, we have as many as 1581 cases of MPs and MLAs with criminal cases filed against them and no detail of the status of their cases was known to the Apex Court where a PIL in this context is under consideration. Their continuation in the legislative bodies raises many questions, legal as well as moral.
Apex Court has asked the Government to submit by the end of December details of these cases like how many have been disposed off, how many more cases have been brought to notice after 2014 and how many are still pending etc. The very question of people against whom criminal cases have been filed, filling of nomination papers and getting elected is a moot one. The focus is on its legal and moral dimensions. Normally people abhor a person tainted with criminal allegation attempting to return to the Parliament. 1581 is not a small number and given the huge pendency it is just unimaginable that these cases will be disposed off in good time. This has made the Apex Court decide to create special criminal courts to hear the cases of MLAs and MPs and to dispose them of according to the law. Actually, the Government is seriously disposed that such cases should be decided and therefore is not averse to the opening of special courts. The Apex Court has issued instructions to the Government to work out the infrastructure while it has left to itself the task that these courts are supposed to perform. The Bench said the issue of appointment of judicial officers, public prosecutors, court staff and infrastructure for these special courts would be dealt with by it, if needed. In one of the previous hearings the Supreme Court had censured the Election Commission of India for not being very clear on the issue of criminally charged persons entering the portals of the Parliament and legislatures.
The Government has conveyed to the Supreme Court that the matter of disqualifying the convicted MPs or MLAs for life from fighting election is under their consideration while the Election Commission has categorically said that it would favour life long disqualification from fighting election for the candidates with established criminal record.
After seventy years of democratic dispensation one big issue that is facing the Indian society is of criminalization of politics. A serious situation has developed in which criminals seek votes from the electorate by intimidation or by money power. Ordinary people in rural India can be easily hoodwinked through intimidation and made to vote in favour or against a particular candidate. What can one expect from the criminals when they sit in the Parliament House? They cut across the parties and groups. We cannot say that only this or that party returns criminal candidates. This is the situation with almost all political parties. Unless some mechanism is evolved which stonewalls the entry of criminally tainted persons into the legislative bodies or the Parliament the cancer cannot be eradicated. As such responsibility devolves on the judiciary, the executive, and the Election Commission. It is a matter of satisfaction that the Apex Court has taken cognizance of this serious flaw in our democratic system and has also taken first steps to overcome it.
Creation of special courts will hasten the decision on the cases of MPs and MLAs who are charged with criminal cases. The necessity of creating these special courts, which will address only the cases of law makers, arises for the heavy pendency with which ordinary courts are beset.
We hope that the Government will expedite raising of infrastructure for these courts at its earliest and the Apex Court will also complete other related tasks. The sooner these special courts begin to function fully the better.
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