Special Courts and Lifetime Ban to Deal Political Corruption

Union Government has agreed to set up special courts to deal with cases against the country’s elected representatives. In 2014, as many as 1,581 lawmakers – that is, MPs and MLAs – were facing prosecution in a mind-boggling 13,500 cases.

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Center has informed the Supreme Court that it will start with 12 such special courts, to begin with, and added that it has allotted Rs 7.80 crore for the purpose. The center will be collecting the data on cases pending across the country, so it can better decide on how many special courts it needs to set up in total.

The Election Commission (EC) last month said for the first time that convicted MPs and MLAs must be debarred+ from contesting polls – ever. Such courts will make sure that they are convicted well in time to take action on the erring politicians.

The existing law calls for a six-year ban after the lawmaker has completed their sentence. The center is yet to take a stand on the issue of imposing a life ban on convicted MPs and MLAs from electoral politics. If these materialize, it will deal a death-blow to political corruption.