No one in India votes on the basis of the candidates’ educational qualifications, the Supreme Court observed on Monday while dismissing a plea against the election of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Harsh Vardhan Bajpayee to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 2017.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna said most voters do not look at a candidate’s educational background before exercising their franchise.
“No one votes on the basis of educational qualifications in our country anyway,” the bench observed orally.
The remarks came while the bench was hearing a plea moved by Congress leader Anugrah Narayan Singh, seeking that Bajpayee’s election be declared null and void as he had indulged in corrupt practices by not disclosing his correct educational qualifications.
The Allahabad High Court rejected Singh’s plea in September 2022 on the ground of being infructuous as Bajpayee’s term had already ended in 2022.
“Though allegations of corrupt practice were levelled against the respondent but the same are not supported by material facts and unimpeachable documents, apart from the fact that the said allegations do not amount to corrupt practice,” the high court had said.
