Candidate Trial Disqualification Survives Constitutional Challenge

The Rajasthan High Court has upheld a law disqualifying municipal-election candidates once a competent court has taken cognisance and framed charges for an offence carrying at least five years’ imprisonment. Chief Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal and Justice Munnuri Laxman rejected a constitutional challenge to Section 24(iii) of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009. The bench said the provision had already survived earlier challenges and served the legitimate aim of protecting the integrity of local democratic institutions. Cognisance and charge-framing supplied two stages of judicial scrutiny, distinguishing the rule from arbitrary exclusion based only on accusation. Electoral rights are statutory, the court added, and the legislature may prescribe eligibility at a stage earlier than conviction. The petition was dismissed on 5 October 2026, without preventing a later election petition under the ordinary process.