130th Constitutional Amendment Bill: A

Abstract

In a democracy, Citizens are the sovereign and sole authorities. By the way of elections, citizens choose their representatives who can voice their needs and aspirations in the Parliament/Assembly. Most of the democratic nations have electoral laws that bans/prevents the entry of candidates with criminal offences charges/background. In certain democracies, the disqualification of elected representative applies after framing the charges by the investigative agency or conviction by the court of law. In India, the proposed One Hundred and Thirtieth (130th) Constitutional Amendment Bill that is aiming to handover authority to remove the elected representatives in the hands of non-elected executives namely President and Governor that too in the name of democratic exercise. While the intent of cleaning the politics is laudable and desirable but the bill clearly falls short in terms of taking away the legal/constitutional immunities provided to the elected representatives. The removal of elected representatives by the way of investigative agencies and non-elected executives augments to the democratic regression and constitutional infidelity.

Keywords: Citizen, Democracy, Constitution, Elections, Governance
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In a democracy, Citizens are the sovereign and sole authorities. By the way of elections, citizens choose their representatives who can voice their needs and aspirations in the Parliament/Assembly. The right to recall/referendum is exercised by the citizens in direct democracies. Indirect democracies have Constitutional/legal frameworks to disqualify the elected representatives on the basis of offence/crime committed by the same. Whether it is direct or indirect democracy, the authority to remove the elected representatives lies in the citizens. Most of the democratic nations have electoral laws that bans/prevents the entry of candidates with criminal offences charges/background. In certain democracies, the disqualification of elected representative applies after framing the charges by the investigative agency or conviction by the court of law.

In India, here comes a proposed, One Hundred and Thirtieth (130th) Constitutional Amendment Bill that is aiming to handover authority to remove the elected representatives in the hands of non-elected executives namely President and Governor that too in the name of democratic exercise. In a way it takes away the citizens sovereignty and the right to elect. In a Letter addressed to William Charles Jarvis, Thomas Jefferson (1820) observed that