New Delhi: The Supreme Court is all set to revisit its two-decade-old Hindutva judgement for an authoritative pronouncement on electoral law categorising misuse of religion for electoral gains as “corrupt practice”.
The seven-judge bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and justices M B Lokur, S A Bobde, A K Goel, U U Lalit, D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao is likely to begin on Tuesday its crucial hearing in the matter.
The apex court in February 2014 had decided to refer the matter to a seven judges bench.
The issue assumes importance as questions were raised on its 1995 verdict which held that vote in name of “Hindutva/ Hinduism” did not prejudicially affect any candidate and since then three election petitions are pending on the subject in the apex court.
The apex court’s three-judge bench in 1995 had held that “Hindutva/Hinduism is a way of life of the people in the sub-continent” and “is a state of mind”.
The judgement was delivered in the case of Manohar Joshi versus N B Patil which was authored by Justice J S Verma who found that statement by Joshi that “First Hindu State will be established in Maharashtra did not amount to appeal on ground of religion”.
The observation was made while dealing with the question regarding the scope of corrupt practices mentioned in sub-section (3) of Section 123 of the 1951 Representation of People Act.
The issue for interpretation of sub-section (3) of Section 123 of the Act once again had come on January 30, 2014 (Friday) before a five-judge which referred it for examination before a larger bench of seven judges.
The seven judges would be dealing with the appeal filed in 1992 by BJP leader Abhiram Singh, whose election to 1990 Maharashtra Assembly was set aside in 1991 by the Bombay High Court.
