Supreme Court of India has re-emphasized that right to vote and right to challenge elections are not inalienable rights but are statutory rights subject to law. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan noted that these rights are only present in the context of what legislation has provided.
The Supreme Court observed that although the right to vote enables citizens to take part in the democratic process, the right to challenge elections is distinct and extra. It may be liable to different qualifications, eligibility requirements and disqualifications as dictated by the relevant laws. Referring to legal precedents, the court pointed out that these rights are not absolute and can be governed by the laws.
The observations were made when hearing a case on election rules of Co-operative Unions of District Milk Producers in Rajasthan. These unions are run in a three-level structure which is defined in accordance with the Rajasthan Co-operative Societies Act, 2001. The bye-laws established under this Act established qualifying requirements of the candidates based on the minimum number of days and supplied milk volume, society status of operation and the audit compliance standards.
Various main cooperative societies had appealed to the Rajasthan High Court over these bye-laws claiming that they were arbitrary and went beyond the legal provisions. A Single Judge in 2015 upheld a challenge to the rules, with the exception that a previous election did not have to be invalidated. In 2022, a division bench upheld this decision.
After the decision of the High Court, the Registrar took actions to correct the bye-laws. After that, the chairpersons of the different district milk unions that were not part of the original case but who asserted that they were affected, approached the Supreme Court resulting in the latest observations on electoral rights.