New Delhi, May 5 (). The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a plea challenging the validity of the provision for absolute and automatic disqualification of legislators upon conviction and sentencing.
The counsel for petitioner Abha Muraleedharan told Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud that this provision prevents the MLA from independently discharging the duties assigned by the voters of the constituency.
Justice P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala told the lawyer that the court was not inclined to entertain the petition and let the aggrieved party appear before us.
How are you affected as a person, the bench asked the counsel. When you are disqualified because of the provision, we can look into it and ask the lawyer to either withdraw the petition or dismiss it.
The petition prayed that the automatic disqualification under Section 8A(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 be declared arbitrary, illegal and ultra vires of the Constitution for violating the fundamental right to equality.
The petitioner, a social activist from Malappuram, Kerala, sought a direction for the existence of automatic disqualification under Section 8A(3) of the Act, citing the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as an MP by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
SGK
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