Voting and contesting elections are statutory rights, not fundamental: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has reiterated that the right to vote and the right to contest an election are not fundamental rights but statutory rights created by law, and can therefore be regulated or restricted through legal provisions.

Drawing a clear distinction between the two, the apex court said the right to vote and the right to contest elections "operate in distinct fields" and cannot be treated as interchangeable.

 "The right to vote is the right to participate in the electoral process by exercising franchise; and the right to contest is a distinct and additional right," the Justice Mahadevan-led Bench said, adding that the latter can validly be subjected to "qualifications, eligibility conditions, and disqualifications."

The ruling came in the context of a dispute over bye-laws framed by Rajasthan's District Milk Producers' Cooperative Unions, which imposed conditions such as minimum milk supply requirements and operational performance standards for candidates seeking election to the Board of Directors.

Setting aside the impugned decision striking down the bye-laws, the Supreme Court held that the Rajasthan High Court had erred in equating restrictions on candidature with restrictions on voting rights.

 "The High Court, by equating regulation of eligibility to contest elections with a restriction on the right to vote, conflated two distinct statutory rights," the Justice Mahadevan-led Bench said. (IANS)

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