NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over the alarming rise in criminalisation of politics, the Supreme Court on Thursday made it mandatory for political parties to provide a justification in public domain for selecting candidates with criminal background.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and S Ravindra Bhat said that a political party will have to provide reasons for giving tickets to a candidate with criminal background instead of picking a person with a clean image.

The bench accepted the suggestions given by Election Commission that parties must be directed to publish credentials, achievements and criminal antecedents of candidates on newspaper, social media platforms and their websites along with an explanation for their selection.

Dismissing winnability as a suitable justification, the court ruled that the reasons for selection must be justifiable with reference to the qualifications, achievements and merit of the candidate concerned.

"Political parties must put all the information in public domain about a candidate within 48 hours after clearing the name and the party must also submit a report regarding publication within 24 hours after the nomination of the candidate," the top court said.

The court said that parties will be liable for contempt if they failed to comply with its order and directed the Election Commission to file a contempt petition in case of non-compliance.

Earlier, the poll panel had told the court that 24% of MPs had criminal background in 2004 but the number went up to 30% in 2009 and 34% in 2014. According to the Election Commission, 43% of MPs in the current Parliament have grave criminal cases pending against them.

The SC was hearing a contempt plea filed by BJP leader and Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay.

Upadhyay had filed a PIL against political parties giving tickets to tainted netas . In the PIL, he said that no serious efforts were made by the government as well as the EC in the last six months to curb criminalization of politics .



In Video: Provide reasons for fielding tainted netas, SC directs political parties