[BREAKING] Supreme Court directs Election Commission to develop mobile app containing details of criminal antecedents of election candidates

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued additional directions to political parties to upload details of candidates with criminal backgrounds on the homepage of the respective party website, to enable voters to get information about the candidates..Importantly, the Court directed the Election Commission of India to create a dedicated mobile application containing information published by candidates regarding their criminal antecedents, so that at one stroke, each voter gets such information on his/her mobile phone..A Bench of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and BR Gavai delivered judgment on contempt petitions filed by Brajesh Singh and Manish Kumar, who alleged that the Court’s earlier directions passed on February 13, 2020, were not complied with by political parties during the Bihar Assembly Elections..The series of directions issued today are:1. Political parties should publish information regarding criminal antecedents of candidates on the homepage of their websites, thus making it easier for the voter to get to the information that has to be supplied. It will also become necessary now to have on the homepage a caption which states “candidates with criminal antecedents”2. ECI directed to create a dedicated mobile application containing information published by candidates regarding their criminal antecedents, so that at one stroke, each voter gets such information on his/her mobile phone3. ECI directed to carry out an extensive awareness campaign to make every voter aware about his right to know and the availability of information regarding criminal antecedents of all contesting candidates.This shall be done across various platforms, including social media, websites, TV ads, prime time debates, pamphlets, etc.4. ECI directed to create a fund for this purpose within a period of 4 weeks into which fines for contempt of Court may be directed to be paid5. ECI directed to create a separate cell which will also monitor the required compliances so that this Court can be apprised promptly of non-compliance by any political party of the directions contained in this Court’s Orders, as fleshed out by the ECI, in instructions, letters and circulars issued in this behalf.The top court modified its earlier order and clarified that the details which are required to be published, should be done within 48 hours of the selection of the candidate and not prior to two weeks before the first date of filing of nominations..The Court also stated that if any political party fails to submit such compliance report with the ECI, "the ECI shall bring such noncompliance by the political party to the notice of this Court as being in contempt of this Court’s Orders/directions, which shall in future be viewed very seriously.".During the hearing of the matter, the Supreme Court had expressed disapproval over the failure on the part of several political parties to disclose and publicize the criminal antecedents of the candidates they had fielded for the Bihar Assembly elections last year, in derogation of orders passed by the Court on February 13, 2020..The Court was told that while eight parties complied with the Court's 2020 directions to some extent, albeit with some issues that required ironing out, two parties have completely flouted these directions during the Bihar elections i.e. the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).Whereas CPI (M) was stated to have fielded four candidates with criminal antecedents, the NCP fielded 26 such candidates.Senior Advocate Surendranath, appearing for the CPI (M) and the counsel for the NCP had tendered unconditional apologies."We don't buy this sorry, our orders have to be followed. This cavalier and callous attitude cannot be tolerated," Justice Nariman had said..For the NCP, it was submitted, "I also cannot say much except to tender an unconditional apology ... Reason was that our State unit was dissolved. We had communicated the ECI and court order on March 9 ... Ultimately all the candidates lost the election.".Senior advocate Kapil Sibal weighed in that while the ECI has significant powers under Section Section 16A of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, it has to be carefully exercised so it does not affect the polity of the country."If you give a hammer in their (ECI's) hands, it could be misused ... Many leaders have false cases foisted on them. If they are convicted, there are already provisions (to disqualify them) ... Please don't exercise it (Section 16A) in this manner, it will create a lot of problems", he argued.Senior Advocate Harish Salve, who also appeared for the EC, favoured action against parties who were found in egregious violation. “The absolute death knell would be freezing the symbol,” he had submitted. Though there would be larger concerns of too many parties being thrown out of the political arena, they may have to be made to understand that this is not optional, said Salve..Senior Advocate KV Viswanathan, who was assisting the court as amicus curiae in the matter had said that a violation should attract action and that if such deterrent is not there, parties will simply violate it..[Read Judgment].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.