Explained | When can an MP be disqualified and under what rules?

Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from January 11

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has issued a notification disqualifying Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal, who was recently convicted in an attempt-to-murder case by a court in the Union territory.

As per the notification issued on Friday, Faizal stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from January 11, the date of his conviction by a sessions court in Kavaratti.

The decision was taken under the provisions of Article 102 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

What does Article 102(1) of the Constitution of India say about the disqualification of MPs?

A member of either House can be disqualified:

- if the person “holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State, other than an office declared by Parliament by law not to disqualify its holder”;

- if the person is of “unsound mind” and “stands so declared by a competent court”;

- if the person is an “undischarged insolvent”;

- if the person is not a citizen of India, or has acquired the citizenship of a foreign State, or “is under any acknowledgment of allegiance or adherence to a foreign State”;

- if the person “is so disqualified by or under any law made by Parliament Explanation For the purposes of this clause a person shall not be deemed to hold an office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State by reason only that he is a Minister either for the Union or for such State.”

The Act also disqualifies an MP as 'he is so disqualified under the Tenth Schedule'.

Faizal was also disqualified under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. As per that Act,

- “if a person is convicted and if the conviction along with sentence awarded results in disqualification, under subsection (1), (2) or (3) of Section 8, and if Higher Court, on appeal, stays the operation of only the execution of sentence imprisonment passed by the Trial Court, then the stay on the execution of sentence so granted by Higher Court and release of the convicted person on bail will not have the effect of-suspension of disqualification. In other words, the disqualification will continue to be applicable in such eases;

- In cases where not just the operation of the sentence hut, the conviction is also specifically stayed, then the disqualification will also remain suspended.”