New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on `electoral reforms' has rejected the proposal made by the Election Commission to disqualify a person from contesting an election if he/she has been chargesheeted in a criminal case.

In its 18th report placed in Parliament recently, the committee with E. Sudarsana Natchiappan as chairman said the proposal was a major departure from the law now in force, which provided that if a person was charged with an offence and the court convicted him, he will be disqualified from contesting elections.

A series of proposals sent by the Commission to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in October 2006 was referred to the committee.

The committee after eliciting the views of the government, political parties and eminent lawyers submitted its report.

It felt that there was a lurking fear of the prosecution being influenced by the party in power. Merely looking into the charge sheet with supporting evidence and other material furnished by the prosecution without giving the accused sufficient opportunity to defend himself and plead his case, the court could frame charges.

Fundamental nature

The committee said that if the proposed amendment was accepted, the person would be deprived of his/her statutory right, which was of a fundamental nature in a democracy. It pointed out that in certain cases the court may discharge the accused after recording reasons in writing.

The committee felt that there was every likelihood of false and mala fide charges being framed at the behest of opponents, who will naturally benefit if the person concerned is unable to contest an election.

It was deeply conscious of the criminalisation of our polity and the fast erosion of confidence of the people at large in the political process of the day.

This would certainly weaken our democracy and render the democratic institutions sterile.

The committee felt that politics should be cleansed of persons with established criminal background. However, the Election Commission's proposal cannot be accepted in its present form as the country had witnessed misuse of such laws as MISA, TADA, and POTA.

It said choosing their representatives through the democratic process was the prerogative of the people. They may decide that a particular candidate was the best person to represent them in a particular period ignoring certain other things which may not be accepted by some other persons.

This was the essence of democracy where an individual, his capacity and incapacity were very much transparent during the course of electioneering.

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