The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), on June 19 wrote to the Election Commission seeking action against parties that fail to publish details of criminal antecedents of candidates as per orders of the Supreme Court and the poll panel.
- ADR is an electoral watchdog established in 1999 by a group of professors from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad.
Key points
- The Supreme Court on September 25, 2018, made it mandatory for political parties to publish the details of criminal cases pending against their candidates, including on their websites, in a format prescribed by the Election Commission of India.
- While candidates did declare the cases pending against them in their election affidavits to the ECI before the ruling, the Supreme Court order made it mandatory for the information to be widely publicised.
- It directed parties to publish the details of criminal cases pending against a candidate in bold letters and told the candidate with pending cases to inform the party about these cases.
- The court also ordered that the candidate and the party have to publish the information at least thrice after filing the nomination.
