Congress leader Kapil Sibal

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court 's direction to political parties to upload on their websites the reasons for selecting candidates with criminal antecedents.

"It's a good decision. Criminals have entered politics and people should know, so that they can question these political parties," Kapil Sibal told ANI.

He also said, "As part of the right to information, the voters will now be able to choose even between those who have minor criminal charges and those with serious criminal charges."

Earlier today, the Supreme Court had directed all political parties to upload on their websites the details of criminals cases against their candidates within 48 hours in Parliamentary and Assembly elections, along with the reasons for the selection of those with criminal antecedents.

The top court also directed parties to publish credentials, achievements and criminal antecedents of candidates on social media platforms.

The court gave the order on a contempt petition filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay which had claimed that the directions given by the apex court in its September 2018 verdict on the disclosure of criminal antecedents by the poll candidates were not being followed.

The court further said that the parties will be liable for contempt if they failed to comply with the order. It asked Election Commission to file a contempt petition in the top court if the political parties did not comply with the directives.

