Debar candidates facing serious criminal charges, suggests Election Commission

October 20, 2014 04:32 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 11:11 pm IST - New Delhi

Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath. Photo: S.Subramanium

Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath. Photo: S.Subramanium

In fresh steps to cleanse public life, the Election Commission has proposed that candidates against whom charges have been framed in serious crimes be barred from contesting elections and that false affidavits should also become a ground for disqualification.

The Election Commission has made recommendations to the government in this regard, which comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s intervention when those convicted of serious offences were instantly disqualified from being an MP or an MLA.

“Those who are facing criminal charges, the Commission has made a proposal to the Law Ministry (that) at least in such of the criminal cases where the (minimum) punishment is imprisonment of five years, if a person is accused of that and if charges have been framed by the competent magistrate at least six months before the scheduled date of election, they should be disqualified from contesting elections,” Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath told PTI.

He said the proposal of the poll panel has been referred by the Law Ministry to the Law Commission which is working on making recommendations on electoral reforms.

Mr. Sampath said a “safeguard” has also been proposed to prevent misuse of the provision. The provision of barring persons from contesting polls will apply only in cases where charges have been framed for the alleged crime six months before the announcement of elections.

Data from the just-concluded Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana:

Also read:

>Needed, urgent electoral reforms by Former CEC Navin Chawla

>Doublespeak on electoral reforms by N. Gopalswami

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.