Supreme Court verdict on undertrials & polls today
The petitioners argued that there must be a stage prior to the conviction when a candidate should face disqualification.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Tuesday on whether a person facing a criminal case in a heinous crime can be disqualified from contesting elections at the stage of filing chargesheet or framing of charges or only after conviction.
A five-judge Constitution bench comprising the Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Rohinton Nariman, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra will give the verdict indicating the scope of intervention by judiciary.
The Centre had urged the court to restrain from passing any order to add a new qualification/disqualification, which has not been provided either under the Constitution or in the Representation of the People Act. The petitioners argued that there must be a stage prior to the conviction when a candidate should face disqualification.