Supreme Court to hear petition seeking 'lifetime ban' on convicted lawmakers

The Supreme Court on Friday will continue hearing on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwani Upadhyay, seeking a lifetime ban on convicted and chargesheeted MPs and MLAs from contesting elections.

In the plea, Ashwani had also sought a direction to the Centre and Election Commission of India (ECI) to fix minimum educational qualification and a maximum age limit for persons contesting elections.

Earlier on July 12, the poll commission took a U-turn on the plea and said it does not want



a permanent ban, but it supported the de-criminalisation of politics within a certain framework.

The EC, in its short affidavit submitted before the court, has said that the plea made by Upadhyay is "not adversarial" in seeking directives for ensuring that trials of MPs and MLAs are concluded within a year and that such convicts are prohibited for life from the political process.

"The answering respondent (EC) supports the cause espoused by the petitioner," stated the affidavit, filed by EC Director Vijay Kumar Pandey.