Supreme Court on August 10 ruled that all political parties must publish criminal antecedents of candidates within 48 hours of selection. The apex court modified its earlier order issued in February 2020.
A bench of Justices RF Nariman and BR Gavai modified the last year's order which stated that details of criminal antecedents shall be published within 48 hours of the selection of the candidate or not less than two weeks before the first date for filing nominations, Live Law reported.
The bench on August 9 said that the order stands modified and now political parties must publish details of criminal cases against their candidates within 48 hours.
As per the report, the bench also passed some orders but they will be known only when the judgement is uploaded.
In its order on February 13, 2020, the Supreme Court had said that criminalisation of politics is a grave issue requiring its attention.
"In the last four general elections, there has been an alarming rise in candidates with criminal antecedents," the court noted and directed all political parties to upload on their websites the details of candidates with criminal antecedents.
Besides this, the court also ordered political parties to provide reasons for selecting candidates with criminal antecedents and explain why another candidate with no criminal passed could not be selected instead.
The SC also pointed out that the "ability to win by a candidate with criminal antecedents" cannot be the only justification furnished by the parties.
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