New Delhi: Two candidates who are currently imprisoned on charges related to terrorism have emerged as winners in the recently concluded parliamentary election, creating an unusual scenario for the formation of the 18th Lok Sabha in the coming days.
While the law prevents them from attending the proceedings of the new House, they do have the constitutional right to take the oath as Members of Parliament.
The Election Commission announced the results of the Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday. Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh won the Khadoor Sahib seat in Punjab, while Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid and accused of terror financing, won from the Baramulla seat in Jammu and Kashmir.
Engineer Rashid has been detained in Tihar jail since August 9, 2019, on charges related to terror funding. Amritpal Singh was arrested in April 2023 under the National Security Act and sent to Dibrugarh prison in Assam.
The question now arises whether these newly-elected MPs who are jailed will be allowed to take the oath, and if so, how this will be managed.
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Constitution expert and former Lok Sabha secretary general PDT Achari emphasized the importance of adhering to constitutional provisions in such cases, when explaining the legalities involved. He stated that being sworn in as a Member of Parliament is a constitutional right.
However, because they are currently in prison, Engineer Rashid and Mr. Singh must seek permission from authorities to be escorted to Parliament for the oath ceremony.
Once they have taken the oath, they will be required to return to prison.
To explain the legal process further, Mr. Achari referenced Article 101(4) of the Constitution, which addresses the absence of members from both Houses of Parliament without prior sanction of the Chair.
He explained that after taking the oath, they will write to the Speaker, informing about their inability to attend the House. The Speaker will then refer their requests to the House Committee on Absence of Members.
The committee will recommend whether the member should be allowed to remain absent from House proceedings. The Speaker will put this recommendation to vote in the House.
If Engineer Rashid or Mr. Singh are convicted and jailed for a minimum of two years, they would lose their seats in the Lok Sabha immediately under a Supreme Court judgment from 2013. This judgment struck down section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, which previously permitted convicted MPs and MLAs three months to appeal against their convictions.
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