DEBAR CRIMINALS

APROPOS THE report “SC frowns over convicts heading political parties” ( February 13), the founding fathers of our Constitution could not envisage that a time will come when persons of criminal background and convicts would not only run political parties but even become members of the lawmaking bodies, otherwise they would have certainly provided safeguards to prevent it. It is a mockery of our democracy that lawbreakers become lawmakers through the democratic process and there is nothing to stop them. The Election Commission certainly needs to be empowered to derecognise political parties headed by convicts and debar persons facing criminal cases from contesting elections. M. C. Joshi Lucknow