NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would not cross the 'laxman rekha' to foray into Parliament's arena and disqualify those against whom charges have been framed in heinous offences from contesting elections, but asked the Centre whether such candidates could be deprived of party symbols in the polls.

"We have to steer completely clear of adding a disqualification for candidates as that is purely a mandate given to Parliament. We are clear it is a legislative matter. But short of that, what can we do to stop this rot (criminalisation of politics)? Indirectly also, we are not going to add any disqualification," a bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra said.

The CJI and Justice Nariman asked attorney general K K Venugopal, "Can we not direct the EC to frame a rule under the Symbols Order, which is not a legislative exercise but an administrative decision taken by the EC under Article 324 powers, to ask political parties to get affidavits from each primary member detailing their criminal antecedents and provide that those facing trial in heinous offences, if given tickets to contest elections, would be deprived of the symbol allotted to the national and state-level political parties."

The AG said all candidates, as per an SC order of 2003, gave their criminal antecedents in an affidavit so as to enable voters to make an informed choice. Opposing the SC proposal, he said, "The criminal justice system operates on the cardinal principle of 'innocent till pronounced guilty by a court of law'. Should the SC direct EC to brand someone a criminal even before he is convicted? This way, the SC will be indirectly imposing sanction not only against a candidate but also against a political party."

Taking the cue from Justice Malhotra, the AG said, "The SC must recognise the ground reality in politics and the way it is being played. The upper limit of election expenses for an LS constituency is Rs 2-3 lakh. But most of them spend much more and in some cases, it is Rs 30 crore. In this scenario, it is absurd to say that those against whom charges are framed will face sanctions. If this happens, then parties will be fighting not in the electoral arena but in courts."

He did some plain talking, "Is it for the legislature to decide or for five judges sitting in court? If the court decides to impose further sanctions than what is provided in the law, it will encourage MPs and MLAs to say the court is not accountable to people, yet can order anything."

