Disqualify all charged with vote bribe, EC will urge govt

New Delhi: Candidates named in chargesheets for bribing voters might soon be disqualified from contesting elections, with the Election Commission all set to ask the Centre to amend the relevant laws for this purpose.

Sources said the EC has decided to ask the law ministry to amend or make changes in the Representation of the People Act to disqualify such candidates for up to five years. The sources said the commission will also seek the disqualification of sitting MPs and MLAs chargesheeted for offences like bribery or using undue influence.

The poll panel proposals are among the latest in a series of demands made to the government to deal with “rising corruption” in elections. The EC had indefinitely put off the April 12 bypolls in R.K. Nagar in Tamil Nadu over charges of money being used to influence voters there. The byelection was necessitated after the death of then Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa.

The commission has already sought powers from the Centre to countermand an election where bribes were given. At present, under the election law, the EC can only countermand an election if muscle power is used.

After repeated pursuance by the commission, the home ministry had circulated a bill seeking to amend sections of the Indian Penal Code on making bribert a cognisable offence. In the bill, there is a proposal to increase the punishment for the offence as well.

Chief election commission Nasim Zaidi has also spoken repeatedly about the need to make bribery a cognisable offence.