The India Supreme Court held on Monday that the members of Parliament and state legislatures who take bribes to vote or speak in a certain manner in the House are not immune from prosecution. The seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud overruled P.V. Narasimha Rao v State (CBI/SPE), which granted immunity to such politicians and held that such members of the legislature enjoy immunity from being charged with bribery in relation to the way they vote or speak in the House.

The other judges on the bench, including  A S Bopanna, M M Sundresh, P S Narasimha, J B Pardiwala, Sanjay Kumar and Manoj Misra, said, “Bribery is not protected by parliamentary privilege. We disagree with and overrule the judgment of the majority.” In 1998, a majority of five judges ruled that state legislatures and members of Parliament were not subject to prosecution in cases of bribery pertaining to their votes or speeches in the House while exercising the parliamentary privileges granted by Articles 105(2) and 194(2) of the Constitution of India, as long as they fulfilled their side of the agreement in exchange for the bribe.

Articles 105 and 194 of the Constitution deal with powers and the privileges of the Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in the Parliament and the Legislative Assembly. The legal shield provided to lawmakers under these articles protects them from prosecution. While delivering the judgment, Chandrachud said, “Corruption and bribery of members of the legislature erode the foundation of Indian Parliamentary democracy. It is destructive of the aspirational and deliberative ideals of the Constitution and creates a polity which deprives citizens of a responsible, responsive and representative democracy.”

This judgment comes at a very crucial juncture, considering the national elections in India are pending in May this year.