Supreme Court Asks Political Parties to Publish Criminal Records of Candidates

Supreme Court: The Supreme Court ordered political parties to publicise the criminal antecedents of candidates within 48 hours of their nomination, as a step toward decriminalising politics.

In this regard, a bench of Justices RF Nariman and BR Gavai amended its February 13, 2020, ruling. The Supreme Court was considering a contempt complaint against political parties that neglected to report and publicise their candidates' criminal histories.

The Supreme Court stated last month that the legislature is "not likely to do anything" to prohibit criminals from entering politics and running for office.

The Supreme Court stated candidates must upload these details either within 48 hours of their selection or at least two weeks before the first day for filing nomination papers in its February 2020 decision, which was related to the Bihar Assembly election.

The Supreme Court mandated that all political parties post the information on their websites as well as in two newspapers. Within 72 hours of the candidate's selection, the compliance report must be sent to the Election Commission of India.

The Supreme Court mentioned an "alarming increase of criminals in politics" in delivering its decision.

"It appears that over the last four general elections, there has been an alarming increase in the incidence of criminals in politics. In 2004, 24% of the Members of Parliament had criminal cases pending against them; in 2009, that went up to 30%; in 2014, to 34%; and in 2019, as many as 43% of MPs had criminal cases pending against them," Justice Nariman wrote.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress both applauded the decision at the time, claiming that it would help combat political criminalization. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress both applauded the decision at the time, claiming that it would help combat political criminalization.