No convicted person should be allowed to stand for elections
No convicted person should be allowed to stand for elections
Sanjay Dutt has cited his family’s exemplary record of “public service” while seeking a stay on his conviction in the Supreme Court to help him follow in the footsteps of his late actor-turned-politician father Sunil Dutt. Sanjay, a Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow in the Lok Sabha elections, cannot contest unless the apex court stays his conviction in the Bombay blasts case. The actor has been sentenced to six years under the arms act. Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act says those sentenced for two years and above cannot contest unless an appellate court stays their conviction.
A few days back I had mentioned that one Papu Yadav, a noted criminal and murderer in Bihar was pleading with the court to hold his conviction under suspension so that he could stand for election.
Now another person, Sanjay Dutt who was also convicted under TADA for possessing illegal weapons wants his sentence to be suspended too so that he too could stand for election.
If the courts of the land have any sense they should reject all such pleas for suspension of conviction.
We have enough criminals in Parliament and the Assemblies without this new rule.
It would open the floodgates for all criminals to stand for elections.
As it is, Mulalyum Singh's party is famous for fielding dacoits and criminals and history sheeters as his candidates.
Radheshyam
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