Parliament Must Ensure Politicians With Criminal Charges Don't Contest Elections: SC
Parliament Must Ensure Politicians With Criminal Charges Don't Contest Elections: SC The Supreme Court held that each candidate shall declare his/her criminal antecedents to the election commission before contesting an election, here on Tuesday. "Parliament must ensure that criminals must not come to politics," the court said, adding, "No bar on criminal antecedents of political leaders, it's Parliament to make laws: CJI while reading out verdict on PIL seeking to disqualify candidates contesting polls after court frames charges against them".
In the unanimous verdict, the bench, comprising Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, said that political parties are obligated to put all the information about their candidates on their websites.Parliament must ensure that criminals must not come to politics. No bar on criminal antecedents of political leaders, it's Parliament to make laws: CJI while reading out verdict on PIL seeking to disqualify candidates contesting polls after court frames charges against them. pic.twitter.com/aOT4L0PdmR
— ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2018
The status before the filing of these petitions was that lawmakers were barred under the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act from contesting elections only after their conviction in a criminal case. The verdict was reserved on August 28.We had demanded from SC to ward off candidates from contesting polls against whom charges have been framed in heinous crimes. Validating our demand, SC has directed Parliament to pass a law that can stop criminalization of politics: Lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay pic.twitter.com/wsYsas4mkJ — ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2018
