SC plan to clean up politics

SC plan to clean up politics

News:

1. Recently, the Supreme Court proposed to make political parties accountable for criminalising politics.

Important facts:

2. The Bench was headed by the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

3. The court was hearing a batch of petitions to ban persons charged with heinous criminal charges from contesting elections.

4. To make political parties accountable for criminalizing politics ,the court suggested that:

• It could direct the Election Commission to insist that parties get new members to declare in an affidavit their criminal antecedents and publish them so that the “entire country knows how many criminals there are in a party.
• The EC could de-register a party or withdraw its symbol if it refused to comply.
• The suggestion was made by the Bench in a bid to prevent criminals from entering politics.
• The suggestion from the Bench faced stiff opposition from the government.
• The Bench, based its proposal on the power of the Election Commission to conduct an election and register/de-register political parties under Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act of 1951, respectively.
• The court invoked The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order of 1968.
• The Bench pointed to how Section 29A requires a party to swear to uphold the principles of socialism, secularism, democracy, sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.