Supreme Court maintains order disqualifying convicted politicians

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stood by its order to disqualify convicted politicians from serving as parliamentarians or state legislatures.

The judges of the Supreme Court said that the Government had "no case" in its appeal against the verdict, which was delivered in July this year.

The verdict of the Supreme Court cancels the present law which permits convicted lawmakers to continue in office if an appeal, filed within three months of conviction, is pending in a higher court.

However, the Supreme Court judges have agreed to reassess another part of the judgment which banned an arrested politician from running for office, and said that the present law is extremely 'clumsily drafted'.

The judges said: "When a candidate is in jail, it is okay for him to contest. But when a voter is in jail, he can't vote. What kind of law is this? It is a very clumsily drafted law."

Earlier, political parties had argued that this would encourage leaders being jailed by those in power as part of vengeful tactic, so as to prevent them from contesting polls. A Bill, in this regard, has been passed in the Rajya Sabha, it is still pending in the Lok Sabha.