 bill no xix  of  2006 the representation of the people (amendment) bill, 2006 a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1951be it enacted by parliament in the fifty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called the representation of the people (amendment) act,2006short title and commencement5 (2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette appoint2 in the representation of the people act, 1951, in section 8, after sub-section 9, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:—amendment of section 8 of act no 43 of 195110 "5 a person against whom a court of competent jurisdiction has framed chargesfor commission of an offence or offences, punishable with imprisonment for a tenure of seven years or more, then, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1) to (4), such person shall be deemed to be disqualified for a period of six years from the date of framing  of charges15provided that if such person upon conviction is disqualified for a specific period,the period of disqualification incurred under the sub section, shall be set off against the period of disqualification incurred by the person under any of the provision of sub-sections (1) to (4)" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsit is viewed by a responsible member of the society that, more and more persons, with criminal background are entering into election fray the present legislation, namely, the representation of the people act, 1951, has certain provisions to refrain such people from contesting elections to the house of council of states/people and, yet, section 8 of the act which deals with this aspects, falls short of the expectations of the people who would like to see that even before a person is convicted, if there is sufficient evidence against such person, he should not be allowed to represent people and insult their honour and wisdomalthough section 8 disqualifies a person from contesting elections, if such a person is convicted for offences under certain specified acts, irrespective of the period of conviction, a conviction of minimum 2 years is required to disqualify a person in case of most of the offences in our country, criminal trials take a number of years to reach their logical conclusions, and therefore, existing provisions of law in the matter of disqualification, do not fulfill the aspirations of the people at largefurther, under the existing provisions, even a person charge-sheeted for commission of offence of murder and undergoing judicial custody, pending the trial, is entitled to contest elections surprisingly, many of them have turned successful in their endeavourthe amendment proposed through this bill seeks to refrain, at least, those who are charged of serious offences punishable with imprisonment of 7 years or more since chargesheets prepared by the police cannot be relied upon for depriving the right of a citizen, the proposed amendment seeks to disqualify a person only in cases where charges are framed by a competent courthence this billshantaram laxman naik rajya sabha———— a billfurther to amend the representation of people act, 1951————(shri shantaram laxman naik, mp)mgipmrnd—6490rs(s1)—16-3-2006