Why give a ticket to criminals ?: Political parties have to give reasons

Election Commission must report criminal cases within 72 hours of declaration of candidate: Supreme

Election Commission confesses to Supreme Court that criminal cases are pending against 43% MPs in current parliament

New delhi date. February 13, 2020, Thursday

The proportion of people with a criminal image in politics is steadily increasing. The Supreme Court has expressed concern over this serious situation. That is why the Supreme Court on Thursday directed all political parties to disclose information about the criminal candidates on its website.

In addition, the political parties will have to state in this information all criminal cases registered on the candidate, the reasons for the trial and the selection of the candidate. That is, the political parties will also have to explain why they have nominated a criminal.

A bench headed by Judge Rohinton Fali Nariman said on Thursday that the reasons for selection of candidates should be consistent with qualification and merit along with information on pending criminal cases. It should not be limited to just the chances of winning.

The bench on Thursday directed the court to hear a petition for contempt of court reference. BJP leader and applicant Ashwini Upadhyay made a petition saying that the September 2018 Supreme Court order relating to the declaration of pending criminal cases by the candidates against them does not apply, which is a contempt of court.

According to a judgment issued by the bench on Thursday, all political parties must also inform the Election Commission within 72 hours of the announcement of the candidate.

If the political parties do not comply with these directives, the Election Commission will have to bring the matter to the apex court. As well as the information of the criminal candidate announced, the social media like Facebook and Twitter, and a local newspaper and a national newspaper will have to be published.

Giving this order, the bench said that it was clear from the last four Lok Sabha elections that the proportion of people with criminal cases in politics has increased to the level of warning.

The lawyer who filed the petition, Ashwini Upadhyay, said that if any candidate, a political party, does not comply with these directives, it will be considered contempt of court. That is, all the candidates have to give their information in the newspaper.

According to the petitioner counsel, there is no case against a leader or candidate and if no FIR has been registered, he will have to give the same information. If any leader does not provide all this information on social media, newspaper or website, then the Election Commission can take action against him and inform the Supreme Court.

In September 2018, a bench of five judges unanimously ruled that all candidates would have to inform the Election Commission of the reserved criminal cases against them before the election and the cases against them would have to be widely publicized through print and electronic media.

During the court's contempt hearing on Thursday, the Election Commission acknowledged that the increasing number of MPs with pending criminal cases in Parliament is of concern. According to statistics, 43 per cent of the candidates in the current parliament are facing criminal cases. It is worth mentioning that in the last few years the number of leaders with criminal image in politics has increased.

This can only be estimated from the recent Delhi assembly elections. According to a report by the Non-Governmental Organizations Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) working for electoral reforms, 37 out of 70 elected MLAs in Delhi have serious criminal cases.