Khushi Bajpai
Published on: September 2, 2022 at 22:25 IST
A writ petition filed by Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy seeking to delete the words “socialism” and “secularism” from the preamble of the constitution came up for consideration in the Supreme Court today.
A bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and MM Sundresh posted Dr. Swamy’s petition along with a similar petition which is listed before the bench of the Chief Justice of India on September 23.
The second petitioner in the lawsuit is the attorney Satya Sabharwal. The appeal questions the legality of the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, passed in 1976 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which added the phrases “socialist” and “secularism” to the Preamble.
Such an insertion is said to be outside the scope of the parliament’s ability to modify the constitution under Article 368. The petitioners contend that socialist or secular notions were never meant to be included into democratic administration by the drafters of the constitution.
According to reports, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar rejected the inclusion of these terms because the constitution cannot deny citizens their freedom of choice by imposing particular political ideology on them.
It is stated that the preamble has been declared as a part of the Basic Structure of the Constitution in the Keshavananda Bharti case, and hence, the Parliament cannot alter it.
The petitioners also seek a declaration that Section 29A (5) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, which requires a political party to bear allegiance to the principles of socialism and secularism for registration, as ultra vires the constitution.
Another court petition objecting to the words “socialism” and “secularism” in the Preamble was submitted in July 2020.