Urging the Parliament to intervene in the process of jailed candidates becoming Members of Parliament, Senior advocate Vikas Singh said that the number of legislators with criminal charges is on the rise adding that it is an irony that “people in jails cannot vote, but can contest and win elections”. “The makers of the Constitution would have never thought that such people would be elected to the Parliament. A constitutional amendment is needed to specify the charges, holding which, the candidates will be disqualified from contesting elections.
The irony is, that people in jails cannot vote, but can contest and win elections. A Parliamentary seat cannot lie vacant for more than 60 days, irrespective of whether they have taken an oath. The Parliament should step in and not let such people get elected,” Senior advocate Vikas Singh told ANI.
He further said that such candidates should not be allowed to recontest as their constituency remains unrepresented till the time they remain in custody. “And in cases where they have to vacate their seats, they should not be allowed to recontest till the time they are out of custody because of the number of days they spend in jail, the constituency will remain unrepresented. It is the need of the hour to bring a law addressing this issue.
There is a provision somewhere which allows them to file their nominations by authorising someone, this is how they have contested elections,” Singh said. Quoting Chief Justice of India DY Chan.
