New Delhi: Observing that "criminalisation of politics is a very major issue", the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond to a PIL challenging election of convicted persons as MPs/MLAs. The development took place during the resumed hearing of a plea filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, seeking lifelong disqualification of MPs and MLAs convicted of criminal offences. The PIL has challenged provisions of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) that bar convicted politicians from contesting polls for six years after serving jail terms. A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan asked the Centre and ECI to respond to challenges to the constitutional validity of Sections 8 and 9 of RPA. SC was informed by the amicus curiae, advocate Vijay Hansaria, that despite several directions passed by SC, nearly 5,000 criminal cases relating to MPs/MLAs are pending. He said it was a "matter of shame' that 42% of Lok Sabha MPs have pending criminal cases, adding that some of them are pending for over 30 years. When SC enquired further, Hansaria said among others constant adjournments, failure of accused to appear and non-serving of summons are some of the key reasons. Justice Manmohan orally remarked the judiciary of the entire country can't be painted with the same brush. He sought to know the "actual reason" for the delay. The judge asked the amicus to approach the issue on a state-to-state basis. SC observed the issue of expeditious disposal of cases was disposed of in 2023 by a three-judge bench, leaving it upon high courts to monitor. Hence, SC referred the issue of speedy disposal to CJI to constitute a 3-member bench. SC, however, said it would decide the issue pertaining to validity of Sections 8 and 9 of RPA.
