Criminalization of politics

The concept of democracy as visualised by the Constitution pre-supposes the representation of the people in Parliament and State legislatures by the method of election. The Supreme Court has held that democracy is one of the inalienable basic features of the Constitution of India and forms part of its basic structure. However, with each succeeding elections, there has been an increasingly evident lack of political commitment by the parties in the manner in which candidates were chosen and given party tickets, thus making it clear that today, political parties and leaders have less scruples about upholding the vision and the idea on which electoral democracy was founded in the country.
The Supreme Court in January of 2020 agreed to examine a proposition made by the Election Commission (EC) to ask political parties to deny ticket to those with criminal antecedents as the court itself cannot legislate for Parliament by introducing disqualification to ban candidates facing trial for heinous crimes from contesting elections. Researchers have found that 46% of Members of Parliament have criminal records and more worryingly, the current cohort of Lok Sabha MPs has the highest (29%) proportion of those with serious declared criminal cases compared to its recent predecessors.
The Supreme Court has come up with a series of landmark judgments on addressing this issue. It removed the statutory protection of convicted legislators from immediate disqualification in 2013, and in 2014, directed the completion of trials involving elected representatives within a year. In 2017, it asked the Centre to frame a scheme to appoint special courts to exclusively try cases against politicians. In February of this year, Supreme Court ordered political parties to publish the entire criminal history of their candidates for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections along with the reasons that goaded them to field suspected criminals over decent people.
The order also stated that information should be published in a local as well as a national newspaper as well as the parties’ social media handles. It should mandatorily be published either within 48 hours of the selection of candidates or less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier.
Unfortunately this long string of judgments by the apex court against criminalisation of politics had hardly scratched the surface of the malaise that is rotting away the very foundation of democracy in the country and make a mockery of the electoral exercise, and we need not look beyond our state to see such a force at work during the intense horse trading and petty politicking carried out in the buildup to the recent cabinet reshuffle.
As the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, observed; rapid criminalisation of politics cannot be arrested by merely disqualifying tainted legislators but should begin by “cleansing” political parties, as candidates with dubious records and pending cases against them will be more than willing to finance their own elections and contribute generous resources to the respective parties willing to harbor them.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect to efforts in bringing about a positive change would be the voters who are evidently being swayed by instant gratifications and petty tokens. The unscrupulous individuals have found the safest haven for taking refuge from the machineries of law in the electoral politics of India, where power and influence can almost always ensure their immunity, even if for a short period of time. Ultimately, the voting public rightly deserves the leaders they chose. Until and unless the public realize the futility of the situation and demand a strong law for amending the Representation of the People Act 1951 to disallow anyone with criminal records to contest elections, the dirty game of numbers will continue.