New Delhi8 hours ago
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a petition. In this, it was demanded that the Election Commission should be instructed to keep the photograph, personal details and qualifications of the candidate instead of the party symbol on the ballot paper and EVM. This petition was filed by the organization of Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
The petition was heard by a bench of Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi. The bench said that the concern in this regard is valid, but cannot be agreed with the contention of the petitioner. He said that voting on EVM is the last process, because the voter decides in advance whom to vote for.
The bench said that every political party has an identity. The party symbol is the easiest point of identification for the voters. If the party symbol will not be put on the EVM, then how will the candidate represent his political party.
Violation of Article mentioned in the petition
The petitioner said that if the identity of the candidate is made mandatory, the parties will be compelled to give tickets to the trustworthy people. Due to this, the right people will be elected and criminals will be prevented from entering politics. The petition sought a direction to declare the use of the party symbol on EVMs illegal-unconstitutional and in violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
Important part of election political parties
CJI Lalit said that the election is associated with political parties and is an important part. He said that this is necessary also because there is a provision in the 10th Schedule of the Constitution that the person elected should not change party.
What does the 10th schedule of the constitution say
The 10th Schedule of the Constitution is called the Anti-Defection Law. It was brought in the year 1985 through the 52nd Constitutional Amendment. Its purpose is to disqualify the people’s representatives who defected for the sake of political gain and office, so that the stability of Parliament is maintained.