New Delhi: The Supreme Court struck down as ultra vires a provision of the Representation of the People Act which protects convicted lawmakers against disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal against their conviction in the higher courts,on Wednesday.
“The only question is about the vires of section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) and we hold that it is ultra vires and that the disqualification takes place from the date of conviction,” a bench of justices AK Patnaik and SJ Mukhopadhaya said.
The court, however, said that its decision will not apply to MPs, MLAs or other lawmakers who have been convicted and have filed their appeals in the higher courts before the pronouncement of this verdict.
The apex courts verdict came on the petitions filed by Lily Thomas and NGO Lok Prahari through its secretary SN Shukla who had sought striking down of various provisions of RPA on the ground that they violate certain constitutional provisions which, among other things, expressly put a bar on criminals getting registered as voters or becoming MPs or MLAs.
