The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered the Election Commission to file an affidavit before May 15, to clarify its stand on including columns in the election nomination form for candidates to specify their business interests with public agencies and their record of government service, if any.
The division bench of Chief Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and K.K. Trivedi passed the order after hearing the EC's oral submission to a plea by Jabalpur-based activist Sanjeev Pandey to prohibit candidates dismissed from government service or having business with public institutions or, from contesting polls. These conditions are listed in sections 9 and 9a of The Representation of The People Act.
The EC has postponed their formal reply five times since the petition was filed last October. Its counsels gave verbal arguments saying that only parliament was empowered to change the rules. Not satisfied, the
HC ordered the EC to file an affidavit to clarify its stand.
The plaintiff's counsel Rajesh Chand told this paper, "Since no such provision was there in the nomination form, many ineligible candidates contest polls and win, which is a violation of the law."
