Raising concerns over the rising criminalisation of politics, the Supreme Court has directed all political parties to furnish details of criminal cases against their candidates within the next 48 hours on their website and social media platforms.

The top court has also asked all political parties to publish details of criminal records of all candidates in assembly and parliament elections.

The political parties are also required to provide reasons for selecting candidates with criminal records. Political parties will also need to publish details of pending criminal cases against candidates on social media platforms and newspapers.

The SC has also observed that there has been an alarming increase in the rise of candidates with criminal antecedents in the last four general elections.

The top court has ordered the Election Commission to notify the SC in case political parties fail to comply with directions.

The parties shall submit a report of compliance to EC within 74 hours of selecting a candidate with pending criminal cases.

The court passed orders on a contempt plea, which raised the issue of criminalisation of politics claiming that directions given by the apex court in its September 2018 verdict relating to disclosure of criminal antecedents by candidates are not being followed.

First Published:Feb 13, 2020 11:13 AM IST