[Assam] From ToI--Pragmatists Would Looove This

[Chan Mahanta]

Heh, heh! This is a riot. I am sure the 'pragmatists' would love this.

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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.