Urban mirror correspondent
New Delhi, October 8: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) said purging of criminals from electoral politics is a must for the strong and vibrant democracy in the country. The LGP said the Election commission’s decision to revise the affidavit of candidate while filing nomination papers detailing criminal cases would hopefully help people in decision making. The LGP said after a Supreme Court order to weed out criminals from politics the commission has revised affidavit format making it compulsory for the candidates to put out these details thrice in print and electronic media. However the LGP said the commission should also ask for this publicity in main line media of the region.
The spokesman of the party said here on Monday that the apex court directives to political parties also to screen such candidates and publicise their criminal records is aimed at holding them responsible in this connection. The spokesman said wide publicity of criminal records of prospective candidates has become necessary to apprise the people about them. The spokesman said the entry of criminals and Mafiosi has assumed serious dimension and their elimination is urgently required to cleanse the electoral politics in the country. The LGP has thus reiterated its demand for legislative measures to ban the entry of criminals and Mafiosi as without adequate law the criminalisation of the politics cannot be stopped. The spokesman said apart prospective candidates the political parties should be brought under the ambit of the law for this purpose. The spokesman said the introduction of revised affidavit in forthcoming state assembly would be a test for the commission.
The spokesman said nearly one-third of incumbent MPs and MLAs are facing pending criminal cases with roughly half of them facing serious charges that would merit real jail time if a conviction is obtained. The spokesman said the Supreme Court has lamented the growing criminalisation of the politics in the country which now required urgent solution.
The spokesman said over the years Mafiosi and criminals have grabbed the space in public life through a mix of terror and political patronage and large number of them have succeeded in entering into Parliament and state assemblies. They have also succeeded in hoodwinking pending trial against them through money and muscle power, the spokesman said and added speedy cleansing of Indian politics from these nefarious elements has become imperative to take the country to the people-oriented and proper developmental path.
