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Politicians cannot seek votes in name of caste, creed or religion: Supreme Court of India

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NEW DELHI: Politicians are barred from seeking votes in the name of religion, caste or creed the Supreme Court ruled today in a landmark judgment, ahead of crucial assembly polls in five states. The court also ruled that seeking votes in this manner will be deemed a corrupt practice and not permissible.
The court's bench said today by a 4:3 majority that elections are a secular exercise and that the relationship between people and whom they worship is an individual choice. Therefore, the state is forbidden to interfere in such an activity, the court said.

A 7-judge constitution bench passed the judgement in the Hindutva case after hearing arguments from various petitioners/respondents. The top court was examining a politically explosive question arising out of a plea filed in 1990. That question - Will a religious leader's appeal to his followers to vote for a particular political party amount to electoral malpractice under Section 123 of the Representation of People Act.

The court gave a wider meaning to Section 123 of the Representation of People Act to stamp out the use of religion and community affiliation from elections. Chief Justice T S Thakur, justices M B Lokur, S A Bobde and L N Rao favoured rooting out religion from election, while Justices A K Goel, U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud were in a minority on the issue.

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/pol...ligion-supreme-court/articleshow/56288938.cms
 
The consequence is not clear if proven will the contestant be banned for the particular election or what?
 
If such a notion was enacted in Pakistan would all the Islamic political parties and the MQM be disbanded ?
 
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