Becoming MLA not a fundamental right: SC to disqualified Congress legislators from Himachal Pradesh

The Supreme Court said on Tuesday that an individual’s right to be elected as an MLA is not a fundamental right, Bar and Bench reported.

The top court was hearing pleas by six Congress MLAs from Himachal Pradesh against their disqualification. The six MLAs had been disqualified from the Assembly after they cross-voted in favour of a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27.

In its verbal remarks, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra questioned the maintainability of the Congress MLAs’ pleas. It also said that the top court cannot be approached directly to rule on claims of a violation of such a right.

Citizens can file a writ petition in the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution if their fundamental rights are violated.

On Tuesday, Justice Khanna asked the petitioners why they had not approached the Himachal Pradesh High Court first, and questioned them as to what fundamental rights of theirs were exactly violated. Khanna said that being elected as an MLA is not a fundamental right as per the Constitution.

The matter has been adjourned to March 18.

The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma. They had been disqualified...

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