Supreme Court: Voters have right to know candidate’s criminal antecedents

Source – indianexpress.com

THE SUPREME Court said on Tuesday that voters have a right to know the antecedents of candidates and the Election Commission could be asked to direct political parties to ensure that those facing criminal charges do not contest on their tickets.

The court reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions seeking measures to decriminalise politics.

“The voters have the right to know the candidates. Actually, a party can allow a person to contest on its ticket. But a person cannot contest on its ticket if he discloses criminal antecedent,” the bench said, adding that this direction may be given by the Election Commission to the political parties. “They (people facing criminal charges) can contest elections, but they will not contest on the party ticket because they have this kind of stigma,” it added.

Appearing for the Centre, Attorney General K K Venugopal reiterated that the court would be venturing into the legislative arena if it were to lay down any pre-condition for candidates to contest elections.

“The intention… is laudable. But the question is whether the court can do it. The answer is no,” he told the bench comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.

The AG referred to various judgments and said the expression of criminal antecedent was “extremely vague”. Moreover, “presumption of innocence is central to our criminal jurisprudence. A person is innocent until proven guilty,” he said.

Parliament, he said, has made a distinction between an accused and a convict, and there is a provision in the Representation of the People Act for disqualification of a lawmaker on conviction.

The Election Commission, meanwhile, urged the court to intervene to ensure that elections are decriminalised. Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the EC, referred to its 1998 report and the Law Commission’s 1999 report and said the government had not taken any action on these.

“It is very clear that political parties are fielding candidates with criminal antecedents and the court should pass directions,” said the lawyer, adding, “if Parliament is stonewalling this, then the court has to step in”.