No party wants law to clean up politics, rues SC

We have been telling legislature to take action against candidates against whom charges have been framed... Nothing is done and nothing will ever be done

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that no political party was interested in framing a law to decriminalise politics by banning candidates against whom grave charges have been framed by the courts, adding that the legislative wing of the government has not been keen on taking a step in this direction.

“There is unity in diversity,” quipped the bench of justices Rohinton F Nariman and BR Gavai. “Unfortunately, we can’t legislate. We have been telling the legislature to take action against the candidates against whom charges have been framed but nothing has been done. Nothing is done and nothing will ever be done by any party,” the court said.

The bench was hearing a contempt petition filed by advocate Brajesh Singh, who alleged wilful disobedience of court orders by various political parties during the Bihar assembly elections in 2020.

Singh’s petition cited a Supreme Court judgment in February 2020, making it manda

NEW DELHI:

tory for all political parties to put up on their websites and also publish in two newspapers information regarding the pending criminal cases against candidates being fielded by them and the reasons for selecting them. Singh contended that several parties failed to put in public domain the details of criminal antecedents of their candidates, apart from citing their winnability as factor for picking them.

While delivering its judgment last year, the top court noted an “alarming increase of criminals in politics”. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Con