SC To Take Up On March 18 Plea Seeking To Bar Poll Candidates With Serious Offences

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on March 18, would take up for hearing a plea seeking to debar from polls candidates who are charged with serious offences.

The matter is scheduled to come up before a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh. The plea was filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey. In September 2022, the apex court had sought a reply from the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the plea. The plea said of the 539 winners of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, about 233 or 43 per cent, declared that they were facing criminal cases.

Besides seeking to debar persons against whom charges were framed in criminal cases, the plea urged the top court to issue directions to the government and the poll body to restrain those candidates who were put on trial for serious offences.

The plea alleged that despite recommendations of the Law Commission and court's previous directions, the Centre and the ECI did not act. The plea also cited data from a report of NGO Association for Democratic Reforms. It contended that 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.