Supreme Court: Parties must publish criminal records of poll candidates within 48 hrs of selection
Political news: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that political parties must publish the criminal antecedents, if any, of their candidates within 48 hours of their selection, modifying the direction in its February 2020 judgment in the same.
The Supreme Court added that cases against MLAs and MPs cannot be withdrawn without permission from high courts.
In its judgment issued earlier in February 2020, the Supreme Court had ordered that the political parties should publish the details within 48 hours of the selection of the candidate or not less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever was earlier.
On Tuesday, the Bench said it had changed a paragraph of the said judgment and made it as publication within 48 hours. The Bench has also passed certain additional directions, which will be known when the full copy of the judgment is uploaded.
The Bench was delivering its verdict in the contempt petitions filed alleging failure to publish criminal antecedents of candidates in the Bihar Assembly elections held in November 2020.
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The petitions have asked for contempt against political parties for not obeying the February 2020 orders of the Supreme Court.
Notably, criminal cases pending against sitting and former MPs and MLAs have registered a 17 per cent jump in less than two years.
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