Govt backs verdict on ‘bribe for votes’

Calling it a “constitutionally correct” principle, the Union government on Tuesday backed in the Supreme Court a 1998 ruling that shields MPS and MLAS from prosecution if they accept bribes in lieu of their votes in Parliament or in state assemblies. Arguing before a Constitution bench led by justice SA Nazeer, the Centre opposed a reconsideration of the 1998 judgment in the PV Narasimha Rao (JMM bribery) case on the ground that even the gross facts of a case will not justify taking away the immunity granted to the legislators under the Constitution for their acts on the floor of the House. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, submitted the majority view of three judges on the five-judge bench in the 1998 verdict is the correct view, needing no re-look at the provisions of immunity accorded to legislators under constitutional provisions.