DEMOCRACY AND ELECTION ARE THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE CONSTITUTION - SC

"Any attempt of booth capturing and/or bogus voting should be dealt with iron hands as it ultimately affects the rule of democracy. Nobody can be permitted to dilute the right to free and fair elections". The Supreme Court made these observations while dismissing an appeal of 8 people convicted for attempting to capture election booths during the 1989 Lok Sabha elections. 

An FIR was lodged by Rajeev Ranjan Tiwari, a worker of the Bhartiya Janta Party. He was issuing slips to the voters on the eve of the general election. The accused persons who belong to another village came armed with lathis, sticks, country-made pistols and asked him to stop issuing voter slips and hand over the voters' list which he possessed. On his refusal, the accused persons started physically abusing him. 
The trial court convicted the 8 accused under Sections 32 and 147 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The HC upheld the same in 2018, hence the present appeal before the Apex Court.

The Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah cited the observations made in People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India (2013) "that bogus voting undermines the basic feature of democracy and hinders with the conduct of free and fair election". The bench further added that secrecy of voting is necessary as it ensures that voters can cast their vote without fear. Democracy and election are the basic structure of the Constitution.

Lastly, The Court dismissed the appeals by directing the accused to serve the remaining sentence.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal