Supreme Court to Decide on Debarring Candidates with Criminal Charges

The Supreme Court will hear an important case on March 18 about whether candidates with serious criminal charges should be allowed to run in elections. A group of judges, Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh, will look into this issue.

Last September, the Supreme Court asked the government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond to a request from lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. This request wants to stop candidates who have serious criminal charges against them from participating in elections.

The lawyer’s plea claims that despite past recommendations from the Law Commission of India and previous court orders, the government and ECI have not taken any action. The plea highlights that out of 539 people who won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, about 233, which is 43%, have declared they are facing criminal cases.

According to a report from the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) with serious criminal cases has increased by 109% since 2009. In fact, one MP has declared 204 criminal cases against himself, including serious charges like homicide and robbery.

The plea argues that political parties are competing to choose candidates with criminal records to stay in power. This criminalization of politics harms the public, yet parties continue to nominate candidates with serious criminal backgrounds.