New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked for details of members of Parliament alleged to have crime records and the status of trials pending against them following claims that more than one in every three lawmakers in Parliament had criminal antecedents.
Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha, who were hearing a batch of petitions seeking a lifetime ban on convicted persons from contesting Assembly or parliamentary elections, asked petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya and other interveners in the case to submit the details.
The petitioners have contended that when government employees are permanently dismissed if convicted in criminal cases, allowing convicted politicians to contest elections after the six-year disqualification period violates Article 14 of the Constitution that prohibits discrimination between two classes of citizens.
"This argument has arisen because convictions are not taking place," Justice Gogoi , who was heading the bench, said. "In some cases it takes 20 years for the person to be convicted and, by this time, he must have served four terms as a legislator. Can you give us some data as to the pendency of criminal cases against lawmakers; where they are held up or being blocked."
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