The Hindu : Making people aware of verdict on poll candidates

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 25, 2003

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Making people aware of verdict on poll candidates

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD MARCH 24. The Ahmedabad-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), one of the co-petitioners in a case in the Supreme Court that led to the landmark judgment on March 13 striking down the amendment to the Representation of the People Act, plans to spread awareness in people of the background of the candidates contesting the Parliamentary and the Assembly elections to other parts of the country.

The "Election Watch Committee" set up by the ADR on the eve of last year's Gujarat Assembly elections informing the voters about the "criminal background" of the contesting candidates has attracted the attention of non-governmental organisations in various parts of the country.

According to the ADR convener, Jagdeep Chhokar, NGOs of at least seven States including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, are in touch with the ADR for replicating a similar experiment in their States.

The ADR, he said, also planned to hold a workshop here early in May for some NGOs of the States going to the polls this year.

The workshop would try to disseminate the impact of the Supreme Court's landmark judgment declaring as null and void the attempt of the political leadership to withhold some information of the background of the candidates from the voters.

Justice B. J. Diwan, former Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, and other retired judges, Justice P. D. Desai and Justice T. U. Mehta, agreed that the political leadership might make another attempt to circumvent the apex court's order and said the ADR would ever remain vigilant to defeat any such attempt.

Justice Diwan said it would be difficult for the Government to bring in another amendment to the RP Act after the court verdict now that the "judgment has attained finality" and that "no other substantial question of law regarding the interpretation of the Constitution survives". The only option for Parliament was to amend the Constitution itself which would amount to tampering with its basic structure of fundamental rights and would be open to challenge in the apex court.

He said the ADR would file another petition if any such amendment was sought to be brought before Parliament.

However, most of the jurists felt such a move was highly unlikely since some of the political parties including the main Opposition, Congress, had accepted the apex court verdict.

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