The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that each candidate shall declare his/her criminal antecedents to the election commission before contesting an election.
"Parliament must ensure that criminals must not come to politics," the court said, adding, "No bar on criminal antecedents of political leaders, it's Parliament to make laws: CJI while reading out verdict on PIL seeking to disqualify candidates contesting polls after court frames charges against them".
A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said that citizens have a right to be informed about the antecedents of their candidates.
In the unanimous verdict, the bench, also comprising Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, said that political parties are obligated to put all the information about their candidates on their websites.
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The verdict was pronounced on a batch of pleas raising a question whether lawmakers facing criminal trial can be disqualified from contesting elections at the stage of framing of charges against them.
The status before the filing of these petitions was that lawmakers were barred under the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act from contesting elections only after their conviction in a criminal case.
The verdict was reserved on August 28.
PTI
