New Delhi, February 14: The Election Commission of India on Friday announced that it would implement directions of the Supreme Court concerning criminal antecedents of candidates. Adding more, the apex elections conducting body made it clear that from now political parties have to upload detailed info regarding individuals with pending criminal cases against their candidates.
Informing about the latest development, the ECI said, as quoted by news agency ANI, "EC will implement the directions of the Supreme Court concerning criminal antecedents of candidates by reiterating its existing instructions with suitable modifications." MNS New Flag Controversy: State Election Commission Files Complaint Against New Flag Which Bears Shivaji's Insignia.
Adding more, it had said, "EC welcomes the SC order (of 13 Feb, 2020) that 'it shall be mandatory for political parties to upload on their website detailed info regarding individuals with pending criminal cases who have been selected as candidates, along with reasons for such selection'."
Here are the ANI tweets:
Election Commission of India: EC will implement the directions of the Supreme Court concerning criminal antecedents of candidates by reiterating its existing instructions with suitable modifications. https://t.co/vhHSOIchrk
— ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2020
Earlier on Friday, the apex court had issued a notice to the ECI on petition alleging discrepancies in the final vote count of Lok Sabha elections 2019. The bench was also hearing on the petitions which stated that 43% of the 539 Lok Sabha members whose election affidavits were analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms had criminal cases. Apart from this, SC asked parties to publish their explanation for selecting each of these candidates, and also said that they can’t cite mere winnability.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 14, 2020 06:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).