Mandatory to upload details of candidates' criminal antecedents on website, social media: SC directs political parties

The Supreme Court today directed political parties to upload details of candidates with criminal backgrounds on their official websites as well as in newspapers and on social media (Rambabu Singh Thakur v. Sunil Arora & Ors.)

The details of criminal antecedents of candidates should include the nature of the crime, whether charges have been framed etc.

The Court also ordered that the parties should give reasons on why each candidate is being fielded for elections. It was made clear by the Court that the ability to win elections should not be the reason furnished for fielding the candidate.

Political parties have been further directed to publish the antecedents of their candidates in one local newspaper and one national newspaper and on social media, including on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

They have also been directed to file a compliance report with the Election Commission of India to ensure that the Court’s directions are followed.

On going though the submission of the parties, the Court also observed,

Given these statistics, the Court expressed its surprise as to why candidates with pending criminal cases are selected as candidates in the first place.

These details are required to be published within 48 hours of the selection of the candidate or not less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier.

The Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Ravindra Bhat passed the order in contempt petitions filed by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay against the Centre and the Election Commission of India. The Court had reserved its verdict in the petitions on January 31.

The contempt petitions were filed to ensure compliance of the Supreme Court’s directions in Public Interest Foundation v. Union of India. In that judgment, a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court had in September 2018 had directed candidates contesting elections to declare their criminal antecedents.

The same was required to be intimated to their political parties and must be reflected in the forms provided the Election Commission, the Court had held. The political parties were also directed the publish the criminal antecedents of of their candidates on their official websites.

Upadhyay had claimed that despite these directions, the Election Commission neither amended the Election Symbol Order 1968 nor the Model Code of Conduct. The BJP spokesperson claimed that the notification has no statutory sanction and thus failed to secure fundamental right of voters.

The contempt pleas go on to state the need for cracking down on criminalisation of politics.

Based on these grounds, among others, Upadhyay had sought a direction from the Court to direct candidates running for elections to furnish their age, educational qualifications, criminal cases against them, and the combined value of their fixed and movable assets. It was further prayed:

"Every candidate shall publish the above details at least thrice in leading News Channels between 5-9 pm and thrice in widely circulated Newspapers within seven days of his nomination. [List of the News Channels and Newspapers will be provided by the CEO of the State, based on the latest TRP and Circulation].

The political party shall publish the aforesaid information on the Home Page of its Website within 24 Hours of the nomination of the Candidate and keep it till the date of polling. [Font shall be Bookman Old Style, Font Size - 15 and Line Spacing – 1.5]."

It was also prayed that the above conditions be incorporated in the Election Symbol Order, the Model Code of Conduct and Instructions of the Election Commission for effective compliance.

Thus, Upadhyay sought contempt proceedings against both the ECI and the Centre for not complying with the directions in the Supreme Court’s September 2018 judgment.

[Read the Judgment]