Supreme Court Said- Tainted Not Eligible To Contest Elections
Supreme Court said- tainted not eligible to contest elections if punishment is not stopped.
The Supreme Court held that if a person convicted in a criminal case faces a sentence of two years or more and if his conviction is not stayed.
Such a person is ineligible to contest elections under the Representation of the People Act.
The apex court made this comment in an appeal filed against the election officer’s decision to revoke the nomination papers of Sarita S. Nair on the Ernakulam parliamentary seat in Kerala in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Nair’s nomination papers canceled in Ernakulam parliamentary seat
The court dismissed Sarita Nair’s appeal. The election officer had canceled his nomination papers in view of the fact that Nair was convicted and convicted in a criminal case related to solar scam in Kerala.
Hibi Eden of Congress won this seat. Nair had filed an appeal challenging the cancellation of nomination papers filed against Rahul Gandhi of Congress on Wayanad parliamentary seat on the same basis.
This appeal was dismissed by the court on 2 November.
CJI bench said suspension of execution of sentence does not change the status of conviction
A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian rejected Nair’s plea that the cancellation of his nomination papers was wrong as his three-year sentence was suspended by the appellate court.
The bench said that the suspension of execution of sentence does not change the status of conviction and hence such a person will remain ineligible to contest elections.
Prohibiting the execution of punishment is not enough to get out of the realm of disqualification
The apex court criticized the Kerala High Court for its arrangement that the three errors in Nair’s plea — proper verification, incomplete pleading, and allegations against the former chief minister — could not be rectified.
The apex court held that these errors were correctable and the petitioner should have been given an opportunity to rectify them.
The court said that it is clear from the provision of Section 8 (3) of the Representation of People Act that prohibiting the execution of a sentence is not sufficient to get out of the ambit of disqualification.
Disqualification will remain in effect until conviction
The court said that the suspension of execution of the sentence has to be read in terms of Section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Under this provision, execution of punishment is suspended, not punishment.
The apex court upheld the election officer’s decision to cancel Nair’s nomination, saying that disqualification under section 8 (3) will remain in effect until the conviction has stayed.
