Supreme Court to list for hearing plea to debar convicted MPs, MLAs from contesting Elections

 

On Wednesday, the Apex Court agreed to list the matter for hearing a petition seeking the establishment of Special Courts to try criminal cases against lawmakers and to debar those convicted MPs, MLAs from contesting elections for life.

A bench of CJI NV Ramana & Justice AS Bopanna & Justice Hima Kohli said it will list the matter for hearing after amicus curiae & senior later Vijay Hansaria, who is assisting the Court in the matter, mentioned the matter & said that a report has been filed by him.

The bench said, "We will list it".

Last week amicus has filed the report in the apex court & informed that a total of 4,984 criminal cases against former & sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) & Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are pending before various sessions & magistrate courts across the country, an increase of 862 such cases in the last 3 years.

"Despite a series of directions by this court & continuous monitoring, as many as 4,984 cases are pending out of which 1,899 cases are more than five years old," said the report submitted by amicus curiae Hansaria, assisting the court in the case.

It added, "It may be noted that the total number of cases pending as on December 2018 were 4,110 & as of October 2020 were 4,859. Even after disposal of 2,775 cases after December 4, 2018, the cases against MPs/MLAs have increased from 4,122 to 4,984".

The report was furnished in a petition filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay in a 2016 case seeking the establishment of special courts to try criminal cases against lawmakers, a life ban on convicted politicians from contesting polls & speedy disposal of cases against them.

The report has said out of the 4,984 cases, 3,322 are magisterial cases while 1,651 are sessions cases.

It said 1,899 of such pending cases are more than five years old while 1,475 such cases have been pending for a period between two & five years.

It said more & more persons with criminal antecedents are occupying seats in Parliament & the state assemblies & it is of utmost necessity that urgent & stringent steps are taken for expeditious disposal of pending criminal cases.

Last year in August the Supreme Court had directed that no prosecution against the sitting of former MPs snd MLAs will be withdrawn without the permission of the HC of the concerned state.

It further directed that judges hearing the criminal cases against MPs & MLAs in Special Courts should continue in their current posts until further orders of the Supreme Court.

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(With input from news agency language)

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