End of days for Congress MP Masood, others?

Following the Supreme Court order, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Rasheed Masood, after conviction by a trial court, is all set to face disqualification. If the government fails to intervene in the matter through an ordinance, several other lawmakers could meet similar fate as the trial in their cases too are in advanced stage. They could face disqualification and may not be able to contest elections if convicted by the respective courts in the absence of any protection.

Prominent among them are RJD chief Lalu Prasad, former telecom minister and DMK MP A Raja, DMK Rajya Sabha MP N Kanimozhi, JD(U) MP Jagdish Sharma, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, Lok Sabha MP Suresh Kalmadi and Lok Sabha MP and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda. In fact, the fate of Lalu Prasad and Jagdish Sharma in the fodder scam case could be decided in the next few days as a special court trying the case has fixed the date for judgement later this month. The case of others could take few more months. Trial against A Raja and Kanimozhi in 2G case is in advanced stage and sources said the judgement in the case might not be far.

Fast track trial against Kalmadi in Commonwealth Games related cases is going on in a special court while the trial against Koda in money laundering and other cases are also on. 

According to reports, about 30 per cent of Lok Sabha members and 17 per cent of Rajya Sabha members have criminal cases pending against them in which 72 have serious charges against them. 

Masood’s conviction was the first case after 10 July SC verdict, which struck down sub-section 4 of section 8 of Representation of People Act. The earlier provision gave lawmakers protection from disqualification till pendency of appeal against conviction in a higher court if it was made within three months of conviction.