Mobilenews24x7 Bureau (Spl)
Why Rahul Gandhi was disqualified by a Surat Court requires no repetition now convicting him for a criminal defamation.
In the recent history of Indian politics there have been a slew of such instances when many known members of the Parliament had been disqualified. He was sentenced to two years jail under Section 500 (defamation) of the IPC.
Not to be forgotten that few more leaders while as MPs had been disqualified from the membership of the parliament for several reasons and obviously on charges of criminal causes.
In 2013, Rastriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Yadav after being alleged involvement in a fodder scam was disqualified for eleven years.
That was perhaps the first such instance of disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts. That was post the apex court quashed a provision which protected convicted members from disqualification.
In a first as a former chief minister of a state(Tamil Nadu) J Jayalalithaa was slapped with a disqualification from the Parliament being convicted in a disproportionate asset case. She too was sentenced to four years jail.
In another case of criminal conspiracy Rajya Sabha member of the Congress, Rasheed Masood was disqualified for allocating seats in a medical college through cheating. And he was the fisrt such RS member to have faced disqualification.
In October 2022, a UP court sentenced Samajwadi Party leader and former Rampur MLA Azam Khan to three years in prison in connection with a 2019 hate speech case.
He was then disqualified from the state Assembly and the Election Commission (EC) announced a by-election for the Rampur seat.
After the announcement of the bypolls, Khan moved the Supreme Court against the ECI, challenging the announcement of the bypoll when his appeal against his conviction was still pending with the Rampur court.
In February 2023, Azam Khan’s son and former MLA from the Suar assembly constituency in Rampur district — Abdullah Azam Khan — was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh assembly for the second time, days after a court sentenced him to two-year imprisonment in a 15-year-old case for blocking a road in the Chhajlet area of Moradabad.
What is worthy of mention here that in 2013, the Supreme Court, in the Lily Thomas vs Union Bank of India case, had struck down section 8(4) of the Representation of The People Act (RP Act) that gave a convicted lawmaker the power to remain in office on the grounds that appeals have been filed within three months of conviction.
Interestingly, an ordinance was brought in by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2013 to shield convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification from the House. It was Rahul Gandhi, then, who as a token of protest against his own party and government tore the ordinance in a press conference.
