Pune: Crime record publication a must for candidates

PUNE: Candidates contesting the coming Lok Sabha elections will have to declare their criminal records, if any, through affidavits in newspapers and the electronic media before filling their nomination papers.

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC) had last year stated that if a candidate had a criminal background, it must be given the widest possible publicity, including in the print and the electronic media.

The office of the chief electoral officer will implement the Supreme Court’s directive, for which the revised Form 26 has been put up.

“We will conduct special training for the candidates in the fray and the political parties on ways to fill the amended Form 26 and the nomination papers after declaring information about their criminal cases, assets, liabilities and educational qualifications,” deputy election officer of Pune district Monica Singh said.

“The amendments were made in Form 26 as per an order of the law and justice ministry on October 10, 2018 ,” she added.

The directives stated that a candidate has to declare the criminal antecedents and cases against him or her and has to ensure publication of the affidavits in newspapers or electronic media thrice before the elections. The affidavit has to state in bold the criminal cases and the political party concerned has to carry the information on its website.

Besides, the candidate and the political party has to issue a declaration and publicity in widely circulated newspapers and the electronic media about his or her antecedents. All this have to be done before the 48-hour period ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of polling.

Besides, the returning officers have to check the declarations of the criminal cases and ensure wide publicity through newspapers and television channels. The candidates have to submit the copies of newspapers carrying the declarations to the district election officer.

“A party’s election manifesto or a candidate’s promises does not usually give any idea of his or her background. We welcome the new move,” college student and first-time voter Saumya Gill said.

Activist Vijay Kumbhar said, “People will be benefited with the new system. But it has to be seen whether people will notice a candidates’ criminal background in Form 26. People should ideally take note of this and take a decision while voting.”