‘Don’t overstep the jurisdiction’ Centre to Supreme Court

New Delhi: Apex Court’s idea of stopping criminals from contesting in polls was not welcomed by the Centre who in turn gave a warning of ‘serious consequences’ if the top court were to over step its jurisdiction and touched the area forbidden by the constitution.

“Can we give power to the Election Commission to deny symbol to political parties who field criminals as candidates” asked the bench headed by CJI Dipak Mishra, NDTV reported.

CJI said that this would add a point to the symbol order of the EC who will not give party symbol to criminals contesting the polls.

This very much provoked the Centre which replied that “it was for elected representatives to decide, not the court”.

The counsel appearing for Centre said “it will have serious consequences and it is unconstitutional”.

“Who is to decide this – elected representatives or five judges sitting in this Court,” asked Attorney General KK Venugopal adding that “the court is touching area forbidden by the constitution.”

“The court must realise the reality in the country. The cap on election expenses is one of the biggest jokes in the country. Candidates spend around 30 crores in a constituency,” Mr Venugopal argued in the court.

While Justice Indu Malhotra had a different opinion on the point and said,
“So many cases of political vendetta will be filed…it must be only after conviction.”

But Justice Rohinton F Nariman disagreed with the centre’s reply that SC is stepping into the Parliamentary territory.

“Until parliament decides, we can direct the Election Commission to add one condition to the symbol order saying if a person has criminal charges, he will not get a symbol. We are not stepping into the Parliament arena,” Justice Nariman responded.

Justice DY Chandrachud agreed with Justice Nariman and said that the election panel decides minimum number of votes a party must get while granting recognition to a particular party.

“But on its own, the Election Commission can add a condition of denying symbol to criminals contesting on behalf of political parties,” said Justice Chandrachud.

The Attorney General then argued that a “Mere allegation cannot prevent a member from contesting and he can’t be deprived of the party symbol.”
However, the case will resume on 28th August.