SC verdict on criminal antecedents today
Verdict on a plea seeking to debar from the electoral area, the politicians with criminal antecedents is likely to be pronounced by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The plea in public interest, was filed against politicians who have been framed for heinous offences by trial courts.
A five-judge constitution bench earlier, during the course of hearing, had clarified that a law could not be laid down to bar such politicians from contesting elections.
"Right to information (about the criminal antecedents of the candidates) means right to proper information," Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said.
The court in the course of the hearing had asked whether it could direct the Election Commission to include in the symbol order a clause that a political party is liable to lose its recognition if it fields candidates accused of heinous crimes.
The court had indicated that it could take recourse to right to information to pass directions about the dissemination of information about the antecedents of a candidate, which would help voters make an informed choice at the polling booth.
A recommendation to eject a candidate from electoral fray after the framing of the charges in heinous cases was made by the Election Commission in 1997. The recommendation was reiterated in 1999, but nothing changed.
The PIL petitioner, NGO Public Interest Foundation, had sought barring politicians who were charge-sheeted in heinous crimes from the electoral fray.
The petitioner had also contended that parliament with 34 per cent lawmakers with criminal background will never act to cleanse the electoral politics.