Politicians can’t fight Polls from Jail

A day after the Supreme Court cracked the whip on the convicted MLAs and MPs, making them ineligible to hold the office once convicted, the apex court came up with another blow to the politicians by upholding the Patna High Court order, which restricted the candidates from contesting the polls while in jail or police custody.

Earlier, many convicted politicians got a chance to contest the polls from jail and got released later. The apex court’s double verdict in two days, is seen as a clean-up act in India’s political system.

The apex court bench of Justices A K Patnaik and S J Mukhopadhaya observed that when the politicians cannot vote while in jail, how can they contest the polls. However, the disqualification won’t be applicable to a person subjected to preventive detention under any law.