Clause (1) and clause (3) of today’s motion refer to two disqualifications; one is non-residence and the other is unsoundness of mind. I want to know why the other three disqualifications–that is, of crime, or corrupt or illegal practice–have been excluded from the list of disqualifications. I want to know whether a person who has been convicted for crime in the past, or of corrupt or illegal practice at previous elections, shall be qualified to be registered as a voter, or whether all criminals, all those who have been convicted of corrupt or illegal practices in the past–will start with a clean slate, and whether they will have a sort of “prayashchit”. In honour of the new Constitution we are going to adopt, will they be declared free from all sin and crime and start with a “Tabula rasa”–a clean slate?
