RS nominee needn't be domicile: SC
In a relief for political bigwigs, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP leader Arun Jaitley, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the decision to do away with the requirement that a candidate has to be resident of a particular state to co...
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: In a relief for political bigwigs, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP leader Arun Jaitley, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the decision to do away with the requirement that a candidate has to be resident of a particular state to contest an election to the Rajya Sabha. The court also endorsed the validity of a 2003 legislation introducing open ballot system in the RS polls.
The new law has proved to be effective as there has been a considerable drop in cross-voting by MLAs. The petitioners’ contention that the open ballot system will hit at the roots of democracy was not entertained by the court.
Dismissing PILs filed by Mr Kuldip Nayar and Mr Inderjit, a Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice C L Thakker and Justice P K Balasubramanyan gave the verdict validating the law.
The bench did not agree with the contention that dropping the domicile requirements would ruin the very character of the Rajya Sabha — the Council of State — as MPs in the upper house would have no allegiance to the state from where they are elected.
“Residence and domicile are not essential ingredients of the structure and the composition of the upper house and residence is neither a constant factor not a constitutional requirement, but a matter of qualification prescribed by Parliament in exercise of its powers under Article 84, nor so the question of violation of the basic structure does not arise,” the court said.
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