If a candidate makes an outlandish election promise, it is for the voter to decide whether to buy it or not. While the central poll panel labours over what is essentially a policy matter, an election practice that is actually problematic is not getting its attention In 1999, the Association for Democratic Reforms filed a […]
The apex court has asked parties and candidates to widely publicise criminal histories in local and national newspapers, as well as on social media, including Twitter and Facebook. The published material must list details of the offence, charges framed, etc. The party has to explain why the candidate was chosen despite the criminal taint. Merely […]
The recent judgments of the Supreme Court on ‘curbing criminalization in politics’ has left this nation both, abandoned and disappointed. Where one cannot disregard the fact that Indian judicial system in the past had tried to resuscitate free and fair elections through various judicial pronouncements, this time Apex Court has sadly missed out on some […]
The February 2020 order pushes the envelope further on restricting criminal candidates from contesting elections A February 2020 Supreme Court judgment on criminalisation in politics may have far-reaching consequences for Indian democracy. It will first be implemented in the coming Bihar elections in October 2020. The Court has asked the political parties to state “the reasons for […]
Unless we disqualify criminal candidates from standing for elections, our legislatures will keep getting more and more tainted The Supreme Court this week came down heavily on criminalisation of politics. It asked political parties to explain why they need to give tickets to people with criminal backgrounds. The court also asked them to publicise widely, […]
The phrase ‘criminalisation of politics’ entered the Indian lexicon in 1993 when it was used by the Vohra Committee which had been set up “to take stock of all available information about the activities of crime syndicates/mafia organisations which had developed links with and were being protected by government functionaries and political personalities”. This high-powered […]
In disallowing voters from knowing the identity of donors, the scheme is even more opaque now Last month, an investigative series on electoral bonds by independent journalist Nitin Sethi, with the help of Right to Information (RTI) activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), exposed how the BJP leadership misled the Election Commission (EC) and Parliament on […]
There was never any doubt that the Supreme Court of India is a “public authority” under the Right to Information Act. This story began on November 10, 2007, when the veteran RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal filed an RTI application “seeking information on declaration of assets made by the judges to the Chief Justices in […]
Systemic corruption and sponsored criminalization have corroded the fundamental core of elective democracy and consequently, the constitutional governance. On one hand there is a free flow of unaccounted money at the disposal of political parties during elections and on the other hand, criminal elements have been playing a major role in the electoral process in […]
Even while delivering his first speech in the Rajya Sabha on June 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought the support of lawmakers, urging the supreme court to complete the trials of pending criminal cases against MPs within a year. “When parties see seats being rendered empty, they will get the message… In five years, parliament […]