Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Hours after Madhya Pradesh high court's notice, the State Election Commission uploaded the details of candidates contesting Zila Panchayat and Janpad Panchayat elections on its website on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh high court had issued notice to the Commission while hearing a petition over putting up the details of candidates of panchayat poll on its websites on the lines of parliamentary and assembly elections.
The HC was hearing a PIL filed by RTI activist Shivanand Dwivedi following the commission’s failure to comply with the orders of the state information commission.
On June 29, last year, State Information Commissioner Rahul Singh had directed the poll commission to upload the property details of the candidates contesting in the upcoming Panchayat Elections 2022 on public portal.
When commission failed to comply with the order in the ongoing panchayat polls, Dwivedi filed a 13-page petition praying before the High Court for the need of publishing the property details and criminal antecedents of candidates participating in Elections 2022, on the lines of LoK Sabha and State Legislature Elections. Despite the fact that the Supreme Court had previously pointed out the need of such information to be made public, the respondents failed to act as per. Interestingly, the state election commission on its gazetteer notification had already directed its agencies to publish criminal records, educational qualifications and property details of Panchayat poll candidates on Commission's official website but it failed to ensure its compliance. The next hearing of the case is on July 18.
Unlike Madhya Pradesh, states like Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Karnataka publish details of candidates in local body polls on their official website.
