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| Domicile not required for RS MPs: Supreme Court | | |
New Delhi, Aug 22: In a relief to a number of Rajya Sabha MPs, the Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld the constitutional validity of electoral law amendments dispensing with the domicile requirement and secret ballot for elections to the upper house.
The verdict was delivered by a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal which dismissed the PILs filed by some former MPs, including well-known journalist Kuldip Nayyar and Inderjit, seeking the striking down of amendments to sections 3, 59, 94 and 128 of Representation of People Act (RPA) on the ground that it was contrary to the constitutional scheme.
"The impugned amendment cannot be assailed as unconstitutional," said the bench, also comprising Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice S H Kapadia, Justice C K Thakker and Justice P K Balasubrahmanyan.
While upholding the validity of the law that was changed after more than half a century and saw both UPA and NDA joining hands to defend the amendments, the bench rejected the contention that doing away with domicile requirement would disturb the federal structure of the Constitution and the concept of open ballot would defeat the attainment of free and fair elections.
Observing that the principle of federalism is not territory related, the Bench held "residence or domicile are not the essential ingredients of the structure and the composition of the upper house, and residence is neither a constant factor nor a constitutional requirement but a matter of qualification prescribed by parliament in exercise of its power under article 84 and so the question of violation of basic structure does not arise".
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