Supreme Court to take call on chargesheeted in poll fray

NEW DELHI:The new Chief Justice of India JS Khehar on Thursday said he would set up a Constitution bench soon to decide whether chargesheeted politicians should be kept out of the poll fray while their cases were being decided.

“This is an important question that needs to be answered conclusively. People must know,” a threejudge bench, headed by Justice Khehar, said. The bench also included Justice NV Ramana and Justice DY Chandrachud.

Justice Khehar agreed that there was a possibility that the law may be misused, but agreed to set up a bench soon to deal with it. He was responding to demands by senior advocate Vikas Singh who sought an early hearing on a long-standing public interest litigation filed by Delhi BJP leader Ashwin Kumar Upadhay seeking court intervention to cleanse the electoral process.

“We see MLAs who have been charge-sheeted for murder contesting polls,” Singh told the bench. He said this could be restricted, possibly to heinous offences. He suggested that the cases of politicians should be fasttracked so that they could contest as soon as they are cleared of charges.

An earlier top court bench had ordered that those arrested or in lawful custody cannot contest polls, but the jury is still out on whether those against whom charges have been framed by a competent court, especially in heinous offences such as rape and murder, should be allowed to contest.