DEBAR PARTIES THAT DO NOT GIVE CANDIDATES’ CRIMINAL CASE DETAILS: PLEA IN SC

NEW DELHI: A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India to deregister political parties that do not disclose details pertaining to criminal cases of election candidates along with the reason for their selection.

The plea, filed by advocate and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, referred to a decision of the Samajwadi Party, which is a registered and recognised political party, to field alleged gangster Nahid Hasan from Uttar Pradesh’s Kairana assembly seat for next month’s elections. Upadhyay claimed that Hasan filed his nomination even as the party did not disclose about his criminal antecedents either on its website or through print or social media.

Upadhyay referred to a February 13, 2020 order of the top court which made it mandatory for political parties to disclose the list of candidates with criminal antecedents along with the reasons for their selection within 48 hours of fielding them or two weeks prior to the date of filing nomination.

In case of non-compliance of the above order, the EC should have the power to denotify the concerned political party, the petitioner said. While the 2020 order allows the poll body to file a contempt petition before the top court, it does not provide deregistration of political parties. The petition is yet to come up for hearing before the top court. “We will follow every direction and norm of the EC. The party has started publishing the criminal antecedents of our candidates on its website,” national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said.