NEW DELHI: To keep a tab on exponential rise of assets of MPs and MLAs, the Supreme Court on Friday directed that all candidates contesting elections will have to reveal the source of their income and that of their spouse and dependents.
As of now, candidates file affidavits on their assets but not the sources of their assets at the time of filing of nomination papers.
A bench led by Justice J Chelameswar delivered the judgment on a PIL petition filed by Lok Prahari highlighting the exponential rise in the assets of politicians within five years between two successive elections.
“Purity of electoral process is fundamental to the survival of a healthy democracy. If left unattended, it would inevitably lead to the destruction of democracy and pave the way for the rule of mafia. Democracies with higher levels of energy have already taken note of the problem and addressed it. Unfortunately, in our country, neither Parliament, nor the Election Commission of India paid any attention to the problem so far,” the bench, which also had Justice S Abdul Nazeer, said in its landmark judgment.
The court asked the Centre to put in place a mechanism to periodically collect data of the elected representatives, their spouses and dependents to examine whether there was any disproportionate increase in their assets and recommend appropriate action in such cases and also said that as per the mechanism such details should be placed before the appropriate legislature to consider the eligibility of such lawmakers to continue as members of Parliament and Assemblies.
The bench also made it clear that non-disclosure of assets and the sources of income of the candidates and their associates, who include their spouses and dependents, would constitute a corrupt practice under the provision of the Representation of People (RP) Act, 1951 and said, “Undue accretion of assets of elected representatives and their associates was a matter which should alarm the citizens and voters of any truly democratic society and electors have a fundamental right to know the relevant information about the candidates contesting polls.”
The bench said that information regarding the sources of income of the candidates and their associates would help voters in making an informed choice of the candidate to represent the constituency.
The petitioner had alleged substantial increase in assets of 26 Lok Sabha MPs, 11 Rajya Sabha MPs and 257 MLAs as reflected in election affidavits.
According to Association for Democratic Reforms that works for electoral reforms, assets of four Lok Sabha MPs have increased by 12 times while 22 others declared five-fold increase in their assets.