A day after the Supreme Court ordered political parties to publish details of candidates' criminal antecedents, the Election Commission(EC) on Friday welcomed the ruling, saying it would reiterate itsinstructions to parties regarding the same. "Election Commission ofIndia wholeheartedly welcomes this landmark order, which is bound togo a long way in setting new moral yardsticks for overall bettermentof electoral democracy," the EC said in a statement.
The ECI had issued instructions, along with an amended form ofaffidavit, on October 10, 2018 for "ensuring publicity of criminalantecedents by the candidates and the concerned political parties forthe information of voters", the statement said.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed all political parties to uploadthe details of criminal cases against candidates on their websites andsocial media accounts, as well as publish the same in one localnewspaper and one national newspaper within 48 hours of thecandidates' selection or two weeks before nominations are filed,whichever is earlier. The parties have to also submit compliancereports to the ECI within 72 hours of the selection of candidates.
This had been implemented in all elections conducted since November2018, it said."Now, Commission proposes to reiterate these instructions withsuitable modifications in order to implement the directions of Hon'bleSupreme Court in letter as well as in spirit," it noted.