Plea in SC seeks direction to EC to ensure political parties publish criminal history of candidates

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Election Commission of India to take steps to ensure that every political party publishes the details regarding criminal cases of each candidate along with a reason for such selection on the Home Page of its official website in the spirit of the apex court judgmentThe plea stated that on January 13 2022 Samajwadi Party fielded notorious gangster Nahid Hasan from Kairana but neither published his criminal records in electronic print and social media nor the reason of his selection within 48 hours as per the direction of top courtThe petition sought directions to the ECI to deregister the political party which violates the directions of the apex courtIt also sought direction to the ECI to ensure that every political party explains why it preferred a candidate with criminal cases and did not select a person without criminal antecedents within 48 hoursThe plea filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay also urged the ECI to ensure that every political party publishes the criminal cases within 48 hours in electronic print and social media and to file a contempt case against the President whose party violates the directions of the apex courtNahid Hasan is in custody under the Gangster Act imposed on him around 11 months ago and he is the first candidate to file nomination in the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections On February 13 2021 Shamli Police imposed the Gangster Act on Nahid Hasan the twotime MLA from Kairana He has multiple criminal cases and is the mastermind behind the Hindu exodus from KairanaThere are many criminal cases including fraud and extortion and was declared a fugitive by Special MLAMP Court the plea statedIt said that even recognized political parties are giving ticket to dreaded criminals and therefore voters find it difficult to cast their vote freely and fairly though its a fundamental right under Article 19The consequences of permitting criminals to contest become legislators are extremely serious for democracy and secularism as during electoral process itself not only do they deploy enormous amounts of illegal money to interfere with outcome but also intimidate votersrival candidates the plea statedIt added Once they gain entry to the governance as legislators they interfere with and influence the functioning of government machinery in favour of themselves and their organization by corrupting government officers and where that does not work by using their contacts with Ministers to make threats of transfer and initiation of disciplinary proceedingsSome become Ministers which makes situation worseLegislators with criminal antecedents attempt to subvert the administration of justice and attempt by hook or crook to prevent cases against themselves from being concluded and where possible to obtain acquittals Long delays in disposal of cases against sitting MPs and MLAs and low conviction rates is testimony to their influence it further saidAs per Supreme Courts judgments in 2018 and 2020 political parties were ordered to publish the entire criminal history of their candidates for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections along with the reasons for fielding suspected criminals over decent peopleThe information should be published in a local as well as a national newspaper as well as the parties social media handles It should mandatorily be published either within 48 hours of the selection of candidates or less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations whichever is earlierThe published information on the criminal antecedents of a candidate should be detailed and include the nature of their offences charges framed against him the court concerned case number etcThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever