Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the Opposition Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) welcomed the Supreme Court’s judgment that members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies do not enjoy immunity from prosecution for taking bribes to make speeches or to cast votes in the legislature.
A seven-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud unanimously overruled the 1998 verdict delivered by a five-judge Bench in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) bribery case by which MPs and MLAs were granted immunity from prosecution for taking bribe to make a speech or vote in the legislature.
Minutes after the judgment was delivered, Mr. Modi posted on X (formerly Twitter): “SWAGATAM! [welcome] A great judgment by the Hon’ble Supreme Court which will ensure clean politics and deepen people’s faith in the system.”
