The Union government on Wednesday told the that it opposes a petition seeking to permanently bar politicians convicted in criminal cases from contesting elections, Live Law reported.

The Centre said that disqualification periods were a matter of legislative policy and that the question of imposing a lifetime ban falls solely within Parliament’s domain.

“By confining the operation of the penalty to an appropriate length of time, deterrence is ensured while undue harshness is avoided,” the Centre said in an affidavit.

The government made the submission in response to lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay’s 2016 petition challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 8 and 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Section 8 of the Act states that individuals convicted of specified offences face a six-year disqualification after serving their sentence. Section 9 disqualifies public servants for five years if they have been dismissed for corruption or disloyalty to the state. Upadhyay’s petition seeks to extend this disqualification to a lifetime ban.

The Centre argued that the existing provisions were “constitutionally sound” and that Parliament determines disqualification terms based on proportionality and reasonability. It added that many penal laws impose time-based disqualifications and that limiting the effect of penalties by time is not unconstitutional.

“The petitioner’s plea to replace ‘six years’ with ‘life-long’ in Section...