Right To Contest Election Not A Fundamental Right : Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the right to contest an election is not a fundamental right but only a right conferred by a statute.

Dismissing a Special Leave Petition filed by Vishwanath Pratap Singh, a bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia pronounced that an individual cannot claim that he has a right to contest the election and the said stipulation violates his fundamental right, so as to file his nomination without any proposer as is required under the Act.

The Court also imposed a cost of Rupees one lakh on Singh.

Singh had first approached the Delhi High Court challenging a notification issued by Election Commission of India for election to Rajya Sabha after he was not allowed to file his nomination without a proper proposer proposing his name.

The High Court rejected his contention that his fundamental right of free speech and expression and right to personal liberty has been infringed.

“The right to contest an election is neither a fundamental right nor a common law right. It is a right conferred by a statute.”, the bench observed while referring to earlier judgments viz Javed v. State of Haryana, (2003) 8 SCC 369 and Rajbala v. State of Haryana (2016) 2 SCC 445.