Question

Whose decision is final regarding the disqualification of a member of either house of the Parliament?
A)The Election Commission
B)The President
C)The Speaker of the Lok Sabha
D)The Prime Minister

Answer 1

Hint: India has a bicameral legislature which consists of the house of people( Lok Sabha) and the council of state( Rajya Sabha). The Lok Sabha is directly elected by the people whereas the members of Rajya Sabha are indirectly elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the States and by the members of the Electoral College of Union Territories. Though the process of election to the Houses are different, the process of disqualification is similar.

Complete Answer: The constitution states that a person shall be disqualified from being elected as member of Parliament
-if he holds an office of profit under the state
-if he is an undischarged insolvent
-if he is declared to be of unsound mind by the court
-if he is disqualified under any other law passed by the Parliament
In that regard, Representation of People Act states some grounds of disqualification too. A member would be disqualified under this Act if
-he is found guilty of election offences and corrupt practices in election
-he is convicted for offence that results in imprisonment of two years
-he is convicted for promoting enmity between groups or for the offence of bribery etc.

To attempt this question, let us analyse all the options given to us.
Option (C ) Speaker is not correct as the Speaker’s decision is only final in cases of disqualification on the grounds of defection in Lok Sabha.
Option (D ) Prime Minister is incorrect as the Prime Minister has the authority to recommend the President the removal of any minister from his Council of Ministers. He cannot remove a popularly elected member of the Parliament.
Option (A ) Election Commission is not correct as the Election Commission only provides its opinion on disqualification and the President acts accordingly.

Therefore Option (B ) President is correct as his decision is final regarding the disqualification of a member of either house of the Parliament. However the President does take the opinion of the Election Commission before taking a decision on disqualification.

Note: The President’s decision is final regarding disqualification of a member of parliament as long as it's not a disqualification on the grounds of defection. The Anti Defection law states that the presiding officer of the house has the final say in matters of disqualification on the grounds of defection.