At present, there is no restriction for the purposes of contesting the elections for Legislative Assembly of State or for parliament, for a person against whom charge sheet has been filed or against whom charges have been framed in a criminal case. Such person can, therefore, contest Assembly elections.
In this regard, please see the observations of the Supreme Court made on 17 February 2015, in which the Chief justice of India, Justice H.L. Dattu stated as under:
“If we accept that persons against whom charges are framed should be prevented from contesting elections, it would result in a danger to the democratic polity and ethos of this country.”
However, earlier directions had been issued by Supreme Court holding that prosecution of an elected representative (MP or MLA) should be expedited. Please see my following articles in this regard:
(1) Expeditious criminal prosecution of sitting MPs and MLAs [http://www.tilakmarg.com/2014/05/expeditious-criminal-prosecution-of.html]
(2) Confusing signals from SC on expeditious criminal prosecution of sitting MPs and MLAs [http://www.tilakmarg.com/2014/08/confusing-signals-from-sc-on.html].
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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