EC can act against criminalisation of politics: experts
The Hindu
Former CEC, however, cautions against poll body entering political process
Legal and political experts on Thursday said the Election Commission could do more to stop the criminalisation of politics, during a webinar on the implementation of the Supreme Court’s February 2020 directions to political parties on publicising criminal antecedents of candidates. Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Madan B. Lokur said with the assumption that political parties would not cooperate, the EC and the judiciary would have to play their parts. He said the EC had “vast powers”, including under Article 324 of the Constitution. “All kinds of things are possible if the EC applies its mind to it. It has the power to say that persons accused of crimes cannot stand elections,” Justice Lokur said at the online ineteraction organised by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
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