Rasheed Masood News Today

Just before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections last year, Masood had joined the Samajwadi Party in January 2022 but moved to the BSP after the polls.

Sources in the BSP said the party leadership was upset with some of his statements in the media praising top leaders of the Congress.

New Delhi: The recent disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha has put the spotlight on provisions of an Act which has been used to removed 42 members from Parliament since 1988, with the 14th Lok Sabha witnessing the ouster of 19 lawmakers in connection with the cash-for-query scam and cross-voting. The disqualification of these lawmakers have been on various grounds

It was the 14th Lok Sabha which saw ouster of maximum members from the House – 10 for unbecoming conduct as member for accepting bribe for raising questions in Parliament and nine for cross-voting during the Vote of Confidence sought by the UPA-I government in July 2008.

Among major reasons behind their disqualification are changing political allegiances, for conduct unbecoming of a parliamentarian and after being convicted by a court for crimes that have a jail term of two years or more

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from a PTI

The latest round of disqualification of Congress leader Gandhi, NCP leader Mohammad Faizal P P, and BSP leader Afzal Ansari came after their conviction by courts with jail terms of more than two year, invoked the provisions of the Representation of the People Act. 

The Act deals with automatic disqualification of MPs and state legislators upon being convicted and sentenced for two years or more in a criminal case.

The process of disqualification of a lawmaker is a bit complicated but not ambiguous. The Constitution and conventions are a fair guide on the matter Aquestion has arisen whether a Member of Parliament convicted by a court of law and awarded imprisonment of two years or more warrants to be

Talking of the legal aspect, many Congress leaders have questioned the action of the Lok Sabha secretariat on the ground that the sentence had been suspended by a month by the trial court itself.