Give Reason For Picking Tainted Candidates, Share Details Of Pending Criminal Cases: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked political parties to upload details of criminal cases against its poll candidates on their website and also the reasons for selecting them.

“Political parties will have to specify reasons for selecting candidates having pending criminal cases against them,” the top court said, adding that winnability can’t be the only justification for their selection.

Comprehensive information on their criminal background should also be made available on social media and in newspapers within 48 hours of selection, it added.

The order assumes significance against the backdrop of an alarming rise in the criminalization of politics in the last four general elections. Besides, more than half of the newly-elected MLAs in Delhi face criminal cases, according to the Association for Democractic Reforms.

The SC further said that the same details have been submitted with the Election Commission within 72 hours.

Hearing contempt petitions filed by lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay and others, the judges said that the Election Commission can initiate contempt of court proceedings if the information is not submitted to its authorities or posted online.