In Brief
An elected member of Jharkhand's Legislative Assembly cast his vote in a Rajya Sabha election at 9:15 a.m. on 23 March 2018. Later that afternoon at 2:30 p.m., he was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment by a criminal court. The defeated candidate challenged the election, arguing the voter's subsequent conviction disqualified him retroactively from 00:01 a.m., invalidating his vote. The Supreme Court held that disqualification takes effect only when conviction is actually imposed, not from the calendar date's commencement. A vote cast before the conviction occurs is valid and cannot be retroactively invalidated. To hold otherwise would violate presumption of innocence and require impossible foresight from election officials.
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