Ordinance to prevent disqualification of lawmakers likely

With the Winter Session of Parliament three months away, government is weighing the option of bringing an ordinance to prevent immediate disqualification of lawmakers convicted in criminal cases with a jail term of two years or more following a Supreme Court judgement.
Sources said the conviction of Congress MP Rashid Masood in a case of corruption and other offences has made the government think the ordinance option.
No final decision has, however, been taken so far in this regard, they said.
Once the quantum of punishment is pronounced by a CBI court next month, Masood faces the prospects of losing his membership of Rajya Sabha as the July 10 order of the apex court is now the law of the land. He could be the first MP to lose seat after the SC verdict.

There is a feeling that till Parliament does not pass the Representation of the People (2nd Amendment) Bill, 2013 - pending in Rajya Sabha - to negate the SC verdict, lawmakers (MPs, MLAs and MLCs) would continue to lose membership.
But at the same time, there is a feeling that Opposition may come down heavily on the government in the Winter Session if an ordinance is brought as a bill is pending in Parliament. Technically, government is free to bring an ordinance as both Houses have been prorogued.
While government's stand for a bill was approved by political parties in a meeting, differences cropped up on the wordings when it was introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has already said that there were divergent views on the bill. BJP had wanted the bill to be referred to a Standing Committee of Parliament.