Nominated Members Of Municipalities Cannot Vote In Legislative Council Elections: Supreme Court
In a significant ruling clarifying the constitutional framework governing elections to State Legislative Councils, the Supreme Court has held that nominated members of municipalities and town panchayats are not entitled to vote in Legislative Council elections from Local Authorities’ Constituencies. The judgment reinforces the distinction between elected representatives, who derive their authority from the democratic process, and nominated members, whose role is primarily advisory.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi dismissed a batch of appeals challenging Karnataka High Court decisions that had excluded votes cast by nominated members during the 2021 Karnataka Legislative Council election from the Chikkamagaluru Local Authorities’ Constituency. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s reasoning and directed implementation of its directions within 30 days.
The dispute arose after BJP candidate Pranesh M.K. was declared elected by a slender margin of six votes. Subsequently, it was alleged that 12 nominated members of four Town Panchayats had been wrongly included in the electoral roll and had participated in the election. Since the number of disputed votes exceeded the victory margin, the High Court ordered that these votes be segregated and a recount be conducted. The Supreme Court has now affirmed that approach.
Before the Supreme Court, the appellants argued that Article 171(3)(a) of the Constitution and Section 27(2)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 refer broadly to “members” of local authorities without distinguishing between elected and nominated members. They also contended that once the electoral roll had attained finality, votes cast by persons included in that roll could not later be invalidated.
Rejecting these submissions, the Court held that Article 171 cannot be interpreted in isolation and must be read harmoniously with Article 243R, introduced through the 74th Constitutional Amendment. The Bench observed that the Constitution consciously differentiates between elected and nominated members of municipalities. While elected representatives possess a democratic mandate and voting rights, nominated members are inducted for their expertise and are not intended to participate in the municipality’s electoral decision-making process.
The Court observed that allowing nominated members to vote in Legislative Council elections would create an anomalous constitutional situation. A nominated member who cannot vote in the meetings of the municipality itself could not logically be permitted to participate in electing a member of the State Legislature. Such an interpretation, the Court held, would undermine the constitutional scheme and the representative character of Local Authorities’ Constituencies.
The Supreme Court further ruled that the principle of finality attached to electoral rolls cannot override constitutional requirements. It distinguished earlier precedents dealing with ordinary defects in electoral rolls, noting that the present case involved persons who were constitutionally ineligible to be part of the electoral college. Consequently, the votes cast by such nominated members were liable to be excluded.
On the issue of ballot secrecy, the Bench held that secrecy cannot be invoked to perpetuate an unconstitutional act. Accepting the Returning Officer’s evidence, the Court found that the disputed ballots could be identified through ballot papers, counterfoils and marked electoral rolls without compromising the integrity of the electoral process.
The judgment is expected to have important implications for Legislative Council elections conducted through Local Authorities’ Constituencies across States having bicameral legislatures. It establishes that only elected members of municipalities and other local authorities possessing statutory voting rights can constitute the electoral college, thereby strengthening the constitutional principle that legislative representation must ultimately flow from democratic election rather than nomination.
