In a landmark ruling on elections, the Supreme Court has today said that no politician can seek votes on the basis of caste, creed, religion. This ruling was passed in the midst of the 1995 Hindutva cases’ hearing.

The SC further said that election is a secular exercise and that the function of an elected representative should be to uphold the secular values. The SC said that relationship between man and god is an individual choice and the State should never interfere with it.

The seven judge bench was headed by T S Thakur. Four out of the seven judges’ bench ruled in favour of the verdict, while three ruled against it. Judges S.A. Bobde, Adarsh Kumar Goel and L. Nageswara Rao agreed with justice Lokur and T S Thakur to form the majority opinion. Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel, U.U. Lalit and D.Y. Chandrachud—disagreed with the majority opinion and said that the matter must be left to Parliament to decide.

The Supreme court further said that any candidate found violating this order will be disqualified from taking part in the elections. The verdict also said that the usage of religion, not just of the candidates themselves but also of the voters, to garner votes is a practice that adds to corruption in the election process.

Pavan Verma from JD(U) spoke in favour of the verdict and said that the SC is being very clear, and reinforcing the basic principal of true democracy.

Regarding the Supreme Court verdict Utkarsh Anand tweeted:

SC 7-judge bench rules by 4:3 that corrupt practice would include appeal in name of religion by candidtaes/agents/religious leaders/anyone — Utkarsh Anand (@utkarsh_aanand) January 2, 2017

SC’s minority view says religion as a subject of discussion is meant for mobilisation of people & legitimate expectation; so can’t keep out. — Utkarsh Anand (@utkarsh_aanand) January 2, 2017

Religion can’t affect purity of electoral process;appeal by anyone in names of religion/race/caste/language/community will hold poll bad:SC — Utkarsh Anand (@utkarsh_aanand) January 2, 2017

SC majority view rules elections will be void if appeal for vote is made not just on religion of candidates but also of his agents/voters. — Utkarsh Anand (@utkarsh_aanand) January 2, 2017

The Supreme Court had earlier said that they will not reconsider the 1995 judgment which defined Hindutva as a way of life and not a religion.