A PILwas filed on Monday in the Delhi High Court to restrain candidates of all political parties who have been defeated in Lok Sabha election from contesting in polls for Rajya Sabha and from being nominated to the Upper House for five years.
The public interest litigation (PIL) came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, which posted it for hearing on February 20 before another court as the petitioner-in-person was arguing the matter in Hindi.
Petitioner, Satya Narayan Prasad, who claims himself to be a social activist, has moved the court saying that India being a democratic country and the people being supreme in electing its leaders, it is “misfortune that politicians who are defeated in the general elections are nominated to the Upper House”.
Seeking a direction to the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Election Commission of India (ECI), the petitioner said, “Any candidate who contested Lok Sabha election and has been defeated, he be declared disqualified for being a Member of Parliament (MP).
“Such candidates cannot be nominated or allowed to contest in Rajya Sabha election,” the plea said, adding that this is “against the fundamental principle of democracy, wherein mandate/votes on Indian citizen is supreme”.
{{/usCountry}}“Such candidates cannot be nominated or allowed to contest in Rajya Sabha election,” the plea said, adding that this is “against the fundamental principle of democracy, wherein mandate/votes on Indian citizen is supreme”.
{{/usCountry}}In his plea, Prasad has said that those leaders who lost in general elections are not “legally entitled” to contest for the Upper House and they should be “banned” from contesting in such polls”.
Pleading for special rules and provisions to ban such leaders, who have lost in Lok Sabha polls, from contesting in Rajya Sabha election, the 51-year-old petitioner said that action be taken against the authorities concerned who have “wrongly nominated such disqualified candidates for membership in Parliament”.
It said that the Constitution of India also does not allow disqualified and defeated people to be nominated as a member of Rajya Sabha.
He said that no reply has been given by the ministry and the poll panel even after repeated attempts were made by him as to why an ordinance be not passed to prevent such candidates from being nominated to the Upper House.
While candidates are elected to Lok Sabha directly by the people, members of Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of state Assemblies in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.