New Delhi: The Supreme Court today turned down a plea seeking that its order on disqualification of convicted MPs and MLAs be effective even in case of lawmakers who were held guilty of serious offences before the judgement.
The NGO, Lok Prahri, had filed two separate applications seeking modification in the July 10 order of apex court which had said that disqualification shall not affect sitting members of Parliament or state legislatures who were convicted before the pronouncement of the order.
Its second plea seeking a direction to authorities to declare vacant the parliamentary seats of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Congress leader Rasheed Masood for being held guilty in criminal cases was also refused by the apex court which said notifications have already been issued for their disqualification from the respective houses.
“If the vacancies in both the houses have not been notified, the cause of action for petitioner would be a fresh one,” a bench comprising justices A K Patnaik and A K Sikri said.
