New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Thursday dismissed a plea seeking to bar a person who is in jail or in police custody from contesting elections, saying it would leave the door open for practice of "vendetta politics".
Giving relief to jailed legislators and parliamentarians, a division bench of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Manmohan said it can not equate the right of an undertrial to that of a convicted person.
"Extending curtailment of the right to vote of a person in prison to the right to stand in election would, in our opinion, leave the door for practice of 'vendetta politics' by ruling parties," the bench said.
The high court verdict came on a public interest litigation filed by advocate M. L. Sharma, claiming that the amendment to the Representation of the People Act made by parliament in September last year was unconstitutional and for the sole benefit of the political parties.
However, the bench remarked that to bar any person who is in jail or in police custody from contesting an election on the ground that it would lead to criminalisation of politics is a case of the remedy being worse than the disease.
