Heh, heh! This is a riot. I am sure the 'pragmatists' would love this. cm
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday invoked the risk of political uncertainty and destabilisation of governments surviving on razor-thin majorities to oppose a petition seeking changes in law to ensure immediate disqualification if a legislator is sentenced to more than two years in jail for a criminal offence. Arguing on a petition which seeks to alter the Representation of the People Act (RPA) so as to strip MLAs and MPs of the right to remain members of legislatures as long as their appeals are admitted by a higher court, the Centre told the Supreme Court the proposal was fraught with the risk of destabilising governments in an era of coalitions. As of now, RPA provides for disqualification of legislators who are sentenced to more than two years, but they can escape the punishment if their appeal is admitted in a higher court. No such escape route is provided for election candidates who have been convicted. Their nomination is rejected irrespective of whether an appeal is pending. A PIL filed by Basant Kumar Chaudhary seeks to erase this distinction. The Centre, however, opposed his plea through an affidavit expressing the apprehension that doing away with the relief provided under RPA could rock the boats of governments surviving on slender majorities. In the present UPA government, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren retains his Lok Sabha membership even though he is currently in jail. The politically "pragmatic� stand taken by the Centre, backed by unabashed plea to allow convicted legislators to retain their membership for the sake of fragile governments surviving on their support, is sure to raise eyebrows. Discussing possible repercussions, the Centre said: "The government in power may be surviving on a razor-thin majority where each member counts significantly and disqualification of even one member may have a deleterious effect on functioning of the government." The petitioner had said that RPA disqualifies a person from contesting elections if he is sentenced to more than two years and had requested the court to quash Section 8(4) of the Act providing this relaxation to sitting legislators. _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
