SC to hear on Mar 18 plea to debar poll candidates charged for serious offences
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on March 18 a plea seeking to debar from polls, candidates charged with serious offences.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh would likely hear the matter.
The apex court in September 2022 sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.
Aside from seeking to debar persons against whom charges were framed in criminal cases, the plea also sought directions to the Centre and the ECI to restrain such candidates put on trial for serious offences.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, alleged that despite recommendations of the Law Commission of India and court's previous directions, the Centre and the ECI did not act.
The plea said of the 539 winners of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, about 233 or 43 per cent, declared facing criminal cases.
Referring to data from a report of NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, the petition said there was a 109 per cent increase in the number of MPs with declared serious criminal cases since 2009, with one MP declaring 204 criminal cases against him, including culpable homicide, house trespass, robbery, criminal intimidation, etc.
The plea claimed the political parties were competing with each other in a race to the bottom as they couldn't afford to leave their competitors free to recruit persons with criminal antecedents.
The injury caused to the people was large owing to the criminalisation of politics and parties were still setting up candidates with serious criminal antecedents, it added.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
