The Supreme Court on Tuesday fined eight political parties for contempt for failing to disclose the criminal antecedents of their candidates and directed that from now such details should be made public within 48 hours of selection of nominees.
The court directed the Election Commission to create a mobile application so that voters of each constituency can access all details on the criminal antecedents of the candidates.
The top court imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on the CPM and NCP; besides Rs 1 lakh each on the JDU, RJD, Lok Janshakti Party, Congress, BJP and CPI for failing to comply with a constitution bench judgment in 2019 in the Public Interest Foundation vs Union of India case that said such disclosure was mandatory.
The CPM and NCP were fined a higher amount for defying most of the directions while the other parties were fined for not fully complying with the directives. The court was dealing with a contempt petition filed by advocate Brajesh Singh after the October-November 2020 Bihar Assembly elections.
