Introduction:
Politics and crime are interlinked with each other. An immaculate politician sounds like an oxymoron, a class that no longer exists. It is one of the serious problems affecting the democracy of our country. A massive amount of criminals are joining Parliament and legislative assemblies. No party in India is free from the impact of criminals. Indian democracy has seen a constant rise in the level of criminals sneaking into Indian polity. There are many cases which discloses that rowdy gangs are operated by many politicians and leaders. Many politicians have criminal cases under trial against them. even then they rule the country and state. It sounds like politics has become a synonym for crime.
Background
As per the election commission report, 1500 candidates are having criminal records in the year of 1996 and forty of them got elected to the 11th Lok Sabha. In general elections (2019) approximately one out of five candidates are accused of committing atrocious crimes. According to Democratic Reforms, 19% of individuals who are standing in elections are facing charges including Murder, rape. As said by Jagdeep Chhokar, there is a steady increase in the percentage of candidates having criminal cases against them.
According to K.C Suri, Almost all political parties are found to have some elements of criminality. Big politicians are having links with criminals, and this has further canalized social fissures as one of the formidable factors to get through elections.
In K. Prabhakaran v. P. Jayarajan,[1] The Supreme Court held that ” those who break the law should not make the law. Persons with criminal background pollute the process of election as they do not have many holds barred and have no reservation from indulging into criminality to win success at an election.”
In Ramesh Dalal vs. Union of India,[2] The court held that all sitting Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of State Legislature (MLA) who is convicted and sentenced to not less than 2 years of imprisonment by a court of law shall be subject to disqualification from contesting elections.
In Lily Thomas v. Union of India,[3] the court held that Section 8(4) of the RPA[4], which allows MPs and MLAs who are convicted while serving as members to continue in office till an appeal against such conviction is disposed of, is unconstitutional.
Madras High Court to Centre
The Madras High Court has directed the center to clarify in two weeks as to why it should not enact a law forbidding individuals from contesting in Parliamentary, Assembly, and local body elections.[5] The High Court promulgated the direction after taking notes of media reports ” Persons with criminal background becoming policymakers in several parts of the country. Judges N. Kirubakaran and V.M. Velumani said such practice ” must be forestalled and the framework must be scrubbed.”
The judges ordered the Director of police (DGP) to submit a full report of rowdy gangs who are active in Puducherry. According to the court, criminals being accommodated in political parties and given tickets to contest elections to be elected as MLAs, MPs and made ministers send an erroneous message to the people, as the leaders should have a vision for the decriminalisation of politics.
Madras High Court on 13-August-2020 in a most outstanding and most convincing judgment titled Jamuna vs. 1.Secretary to the government, 2. The Lieutenant Governor, 3. The District Magistrate-cum-Authorised Officer, Puducherry[6] in H.C.P No. 90 of 2020 fairly demanded from the center as to why it does not enact a Law to resist candidates from entering politics? The Madras High Court also well noted the horrifying situation i.e. persons with criminal backgrounds becoming policymakers in several parts of the country.
In Public interest foundation v. Union of India,[7] public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court in 2011 praying inter alia for guidelines or framework to be laid down by the court to debar the people who are charged with serious offenses from contesting elections.
In this case, on 25th September 2018, the court delivered its judgment in the Electoral Disqualification case. Currently, section 8 of the Representation of the People Act only debarred people when they are sentenced to criminal charges. The bench asked Parliament to make a law that put a stop to individuals accused of crimes from entering politics. The Bench alludes that such laws are required to ensure that voters can make choices about whom they are selecting.
The court issued the following directions:
- Candidates must fill up forms including all details.
- In these forms, criminal antecedents to be expressed in bold.
- Candidates must notify the concerned political party of undecided criminal cases against them.
- Political parties must put up such criminal antecedents of candidates on party websites.
- Wide publicity by party and candidate in the press of the criminal antecedents.
Current state of Criminal Cases and Legislators
The bench drew attention to the survey of 2019 Lok Sabha election winners by the Association for Democratic Reforms, disclosed that 43% of candidates had criminal cases pending against them. Further 29% were facing atrocious criminal cases. According to a survey of ADR – It says 229 out of 233 Rajya Sabha seats that represent States and Union territories showed 54 MPs had criminals against them. In which 28 of them have serious criminal cases against them.
Politicians with Criminal Cases
Every country’s fate stakes upon its politics. It takes place in India as well. However, it is observed that the common citizen of the country segregated himself from the politics. In India, it is very well said that all are the birds of the same feather. There are so many examples which demonstrate the same:
- Lalu Prasad Yadav who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 has been charged in various corruption cases like “Fodder scam”[8]. He is having 63-odd cases against him. The maximum number of criminals are in his party at the time of assembly elections.
- Arun Gawli is one of the egregious criminal turned politicians who is based in Mumbai. He conducted his operations at Dagdi Chawl in Byculla and now he enjoys the position of MLA. He had spent almost ten years in prison.
- Shibu Soren is a politician who was the chief minister of Jharkhand. He was found guilty of the murder of his secretary.
- Muhammad Shahabuddin[9] is India’s most powerful offender-politicians and also known as Robin Hood for his good acts. He became a four-time Member of Parliament from Siwan, Bihar with the Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) party of Lalu Prasad Yadav. He also become MLA in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha( Legislative Assembly) and currently serving a life sentence for kidnapping with intent to murder. Shahabuddin was elected to four successive terms in the Indian parliament from 1996-2008.
- Uday Kumar SP, who fought the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on an AAP ticket from Kanyakumari seat, had proclaimed 382 criminal cases in his affidavit.
Conclusion
From the above analysis, it may be concluded that Indian democracy should not be tainted by criminals. “Lawmakers cannot be the Lawbreakers.” Many Political parties are having criminals as their party members. The court observed that individuals with criminal backgrounds should not become policymakers. It is common to see today that politicians buy votes on the basis of the power of money or the show of strength. It affects democracy negatively. The link between politicians and criminals is the most intimidating problem for the future of Indian politics.
Actually, the cause of the issue lies in the Political system of the country. There is an absence of political will to clash the problem. They should mutually make efforts to prevent the entry of criminals in politics. Public opinion needs to be mobilized on all these fronts; opposition to individuals and politicians with criminal antecedents is necessary, but only deeper systemic reform can address the real crisis.
References:
[1] (2005) 1 SCC 754
[2] 2005
[3] (2013) 7 SCC 653
[4] The Representation of the People Act,1951
[5] https://legalsarcasm.com/news-blogs/enact-law-to-resist-criminals-from-entering-politics-madras-high-court-to-centre/?amp
[6] http://www.legalservicesindia.com/law/print/1605
[7] W.P. (Civil) No. 536 of 2011
[8] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fodder_Scam
[9] https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.hindustantimes.com/india-news/the-making-of-mohammad-shahabuddin-a-mix-of-crime-manipulation-politics/story-7MLHwoI0GQ137suZaWbN5M_amp.html
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