On what grounds a people’s representative can be disqualified under the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951? Also mention the remedies available to such person against his disqualification.

The Representation of the People Act, 1951 (Chapter III, Sections 7–11) lays down statutory disqualifications for members of Parliament and State Legislatures, supplementing the constitutional grounds in Articles 102 and 191.

Grounds of disqualification under the RPA, 1951

• Section 8: conviction for specified offences (promoting enmity, bribery, rape, untouchability offences, unlawful association, corruption laws) or for any offence punished with imprisonment of two years or more — disqualification runs for the sentence period plus six years after release.
• Section 8A: being found guilty of a corrupt practice, with the question decided by the President on the Election Commission's opinion.
• Section 9: dismissal from government service for corruption or disloyalty to the State — five years from dismissal.
• Section 9A: subsisting contracts with the appropriate government for supply of goods or execution of works.
• Section 10: holding office as managing agent, manager or secretary of a company in which the government holds at least 25 per cent share.
• Section 10A: failure to lodge the account of election expenses in time, as declared by the Election Commission — three years.

Remedies available

• Section 11: the Election Commission may remove or reduce the period of any disqualification, as it did in 2019 for Sikkim Chief Minister P.S. Tamang.
• Appeal against conviction: a stay of the conviction itself removes the disqualification — clarified in Lok Prahari (2018) and illustrated in 2023 when the Supreme Court stayed Rahul Gandhi's conviction, restoring his Lok Sabha membership.
• After Lily Thomas (2013) struck down Section 8(4), sitting members stand disqualified immediately on conviction, making prompt appellate relief the principal remedy.
• Questions about a sitting member's disqualification are decided by the President under Article 103 on the Election Commission's opinion, and such orders remain open to judicial review.

The framework seeks to balance the purity of the electoral process with due process; in Public Interest Foundation (2018) the Supreme Court urged Parliament to go further and check the criminalisation of politics.