Insta
Criminal Antecedents Of Candidates Must Be Published Within 48 Hours Of Selection: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of India. (Wikimedia Commons)
In a major stride towards decriminalisation of politics, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (10 August) directed the political parties to publish the criminal antecedents of the candidates within 48 hours of their selection.
A bench comprising justices R F Nariman and B R Gavai modified the direction in its 13 February 2020 verdict.
It should be noted that the Supreme Court in paragraph 4.4 of the February 2020 judgment had ordered that the details shall be published within 48 hours of the selection of the candidate or not less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier.
On Tuesday, the top court made it mandatory for the parties to publish the details in 48 hours itself. It has also passed certain additional directions, which will be known when the full copy of the judgment is uploaded on the top court's website.
In the last year’s judgment, the top court had directed political parties to “to upload on their website detailed information regarding individuals with pending criminal cases (including the nature of the offences, and relevant particulars such as whether charges have been framed, the concerned court, the case number etc.) who have been selected as candidates, along with the reasons for such selection, as also as to why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates”.
The top court delivered the judgment on contempt petitions filed alleging failure by various political parties to publish criminal antecedents of candidates in the Bihar Assembly elections, which were held in November 2020.
With IANS Inputs
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