A parliamentary committee has rejected the Election Commission’s proposal that citizens be disqualified from contesting elections if a court has framed criminal charges against them. However, it agreed to consider the proposal for disqualifying absconders. The EC recommended six months as time enough for being disqualified. The committee wants the time raised to a year.Speaking to The Indian Express, E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law & Justice, said, “The EC’s main proposal seeks to change the tenet of criminal jurisprudence that we follow — that a person is innocent until proved guilty. We cannot bring an exclusive legislation targeting certain politicians and in the process deny citizens of the fundamental right to contest elections. It is bound to be misused by political opponents.”He questioned the thrust of the proposal, which “takes away the right of the people to decide who should represent them.” The committee tabled its report in the Rajya Sabha today.In their depositions to the committee, political parties have also said that it should rather be left to voters to decide the fate of individuals facing criminal charges. They also voiced fears that parties in power could influence investigation and prosecution to ensure that charges are framed against political opponents.The committee also admits to being “deeply conscious of the criminalisation of our polity and the fast erosion of confidence of the people at large in our political process of the day” which certainly “weaken our democracy and render democratic institutions sterile.”It recommends a three-point programme to fight criminalisation:• If a charge-sheet in a criminal case is framed against a political person, the case should be transferred to a fast-track court and heard on day-to-day basis till it is disposed of.• Criminal procedure be amended suitably to give effect to the above mentioned provision.• Special election courts may be established to decide election related matters.Without entering into a debate, Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswamy said, “We have made our position on criminalisation of politics clear in our electoral reform proposals. Our role is over as we do not have the right or power to legislate on them. Those who have that right would decide the next course of action.”
