Political Parties Fined For Violating Directions To Publish Criminal Antecedents Of Candidates In Bihar Polls

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

• Relating to the publication of the criminal antecedents of candidates during the Bihar assembly polls, in February 2020, the Court had laid out certain directions for the political parties.
• The following directions were issued by the court:
• Each contesting candidate must fill up the form provided by the Election Commission containing all the particulars.
• It must contain all the criminal cases pending against the candidate, in bold.
• The candidate contesting must inform the party about the criminal cases pending against him/her.
• The aforesaid information containing the criminal antecedents must be put on the website by the concerned political party.
• The candidate and the political party must issue a declaration about the antecedents of the candidate publicly. It must be done after filing nomination papers at least thrice.

SUBMISSIONS MADE

• Senior Advocate P.V. Surendranath, appearing on behalf of CPI(M), submitted that the State Committee of the party coordinated the election process for the State of Bihar.
• He also alleged that due to oversight on the State Committee’s part, Form C7 and C8 were not submitted.
• He further submitted that the party had also attempted to comply with the directions regarding the declaration of information regarding criminal cases in newspapers as well as the website of the party.
• And non-compliance with the aforementioned act should be viewed as an isolated incident and its unconditional apology be accepted.

OBSERVATIONS MADE BY THE COURT

• The Supreme Court imposed a fine on eight political parties for committing contempt of court by not following the directions of its February 2020 judgment for publication of the criminal antecedents of candidates during the Bihar assembly polls.
• Rupees Five Lakhs each have been imposed on Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Nationalist Congress Party as fine.
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Indian National Congress, Janta Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal (United), Communist Party of India andLok Janshakti Party were instructed to pay fine of Rupees One Lakh each.
• The court observed that CPI(M) and NCP have not at all complied with the directions that were issued by the Court. They also did not submit the Form C7 or C8.
• Accepting its explanation, the Court left BSP with just a warning.

DO YOU THINK THESE FINES WERE ENOUGH?