The Supreme Court in a landmark decision said that no politician can seek votes in the name of caste, creed or religion.
The apex court said election is a secular exercise and thereby its way and process should be followed.It added that the ‘relationship between man and God’ is an individual choice and the state is forbidden to interfere in such an activity.
The top court in a majority verdict held that any appeal for votes on ground of religion amounts to corrupt practices under electoral laws.
The Supreme Court was examining a batch of petitions in the ‘Hindutva case’, regarding whether religion can be used to garner votes in an election, and whether it will amount to a “corrupt practice” warranting disqualification of the winning candidate.
A seven-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices M. B. Lokur, S.A. Bobde, A.K. Goel, Uday Lalit, D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nageswar Rao, had reserved the verdict on October 26 on the question of law relating to the interpretation of “corrupt practice” within the meaning of Section 123 (3) of the Representation of the People Act.
At the outset, the court had already clarified that the seven-judge bench would not go into the larger debate regarding what Hindutva is, or what its meaning is, and that it would confine the scope of its verdict only to whether religion could be used to garner votes in an election.
It was the submission on behalf of the appellants that an appeal by a candidate to voters other than those who share his religion is not proscribed. It was argued that certain political parties, like the Akali Dal and the Indian Muslim League, were registered on the basis of their religious ideologies. It was not possible to completely shut them from making any appeal on the basis of religion.
