SC slaps fines on political parties for non-disclosure of candidates' criminal antecedents

The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed fines on various political parties for contempt of its order regarding non-disclosure of criminal antecedents of its candidates. A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on political parties CPI(M) & NCP. The bench also imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh each on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Janta Dal, RJD, CPI & LJP.

Apart from this, the bench has also issued a slew of directions which includes one to the political parties to publish information regarding criminal antecedents of candidates on the homepage of their websites. 

"...thus making it easier for the voter to get to the information that has to be supplied. It will also become necessary now to have on the homepage a caption which states 'candidates with criminal antecedents'," the order said. 

The court also asked the Election Commission of India to create a mobile application having information on the criminal antecedents of the candidates. 

"The ECI is directed to create a dedicated mobile application containing information published by candidates regarding their criminal antecedents, so that at one stroke, each voter gets such information on his/her mobile phone," the order stated. 

It also directed the Election Commission to carry out awareness campaigns to make voters aware of the availability of information on the background of all candidates. 

"The ECI is directed to carry out an extensive awareness campaign to make every voter aware of his right to know and the availability of information regarding criminal antecedents of all contesting candidates. This shall be done across various platforms, including social media, websites, TV ads, prime time debates, pamphlets, etc. A fund must be created for this purpose within a period of four weeks into which fines for contempt of Court may be directed to be paid," the order read. 

EC of India to make special cell to check compliances

The bench also directed the Election Commission of India to create a special cell to monitor these compliances so that the Court can be apprised promptly of non-compliance by any political party of the directions contained in the orders as fleshed out by the ECI, in instructions, letters and circulars issued in this behalf.

The court has pronounced judgment on a batch of petitions seeking contempt action against political parties for allegedly not obeying February 2020 orders of the Top Court in Bihar Assembly polls.

The Apex Court's February 2020 verdict had clearly stated that all political parties to explain why the candidates with criminal cases were selected, must upload details of cases against candidates on the party website, reasons for selecting such candidates.

(Image Credit: PTI/Representative Image)