New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) should realise that free and fair elections is one of the basic structure of our constitution and with its tremendous powers, the Commission should ensure that persons accused of a crime do not stand for elections, Justice Madan Bhimarao Lokur, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India said on Thursday.
Speaking at a webinar by the election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on 'publication of criminal cases against candidates selected by political parties, Justice Lokur said, "There are political compulsions that persuade those in power to see how best to get out of a challenging situation. And so, there is a possibility that political parties may not co-operate (with the supreme court regulations) at all."
"The ECI has tremendous powers- and can ensure that persons accused of a crime do not stand for elections. One of the duties of EC is that if SC regulations are not complied with, then it should be brought to notice. If the EC itself does not abide with directions, then where do we stand?" he added.
Justice Lokur further opined that there should be a cut-off point, especially when false cases are filed against candidates - when a charge sheet is filed and charges are framed - the judiciary comes in here. In many cases, charge sheets are filed but no charges are framed, even for several years, which can be problematic.
Notably, on 13 February 2020 the Supreme Court had directed political parties to list out reasons on their website including their social media platforms for nominating candidates with a criminal background within 72 hours of the selection of such candidates.
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The directions of the apex court had come in the light of a contempt petition filed against the non-implementation of its earlier order dated 25 September 2018 on publication of criminal cases by candidates in political parties which clearly were not taken very seriously.
OP Rawat, former Chief Election Commissioner said that there are two important parts of the political process - making voter take well-informed decisions about a candidate; and tracking extraneous people entering politics.
"In case we are not succeeding, we must look for expediting such criminal cases in politics. Investigation system must be looked into, which may help us improve political representativeness," he added.
Prof Trilochan Sastry, Founder Member, Chairman & Trustee of ADR pointed out that candidates with criminal background are not only given tickets but are also inducted into the cabinet and individuals have to be held accountable for not following the supreme court judgement.
As per the data analysed by ADR, 43% of the current Lok Sabha MPs have declared cases against them and 29% have declared serious criminal cases. 24% of Rajya Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases out of which 12% have declared serious criminal cases against them.
