-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Money and muscle power not only help to win elections but also help in making politics a rather profitable affair. An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) for the last decade shows that 62,847 candidates had average assets of Rs 1.37 crore. But candidates who won elections had average assets of Rs 3.83 crore. What's more interesting is that the wealth of legislators who...
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Of politicians and some verdicts -N Gopalaswami
-The Hindu Court rulings on freebies, elections and caste-based rallies, and the CIC order on political parties are a beginning towards cleansing politics but whether they can achieve the desired result is debatable The slew of judgments from the higher judiciary in the period of just about a month or so has been like manna from heaven on the parched earth of electoral reforms. First, the Supreme Court frowned upon freebies, which...
More »Ruling on convicted MPs raises queries-R Balaji
-The Telegraph New Delhi: Yesterday's Supreme Court judgment debarring convicted lawmakers from continuing in their Houses has raised a tricky question: what happens if and when a convicted and thus disqualified legislator secures an acquittal from a higher court? Consider this hypothetical scenario: Some 160 candidates who face criminal charges are elected to the Lok Sabha in next year's elections. (Some 162 among the current Lok Sabha's members face criminal charges, so the...
More »An overdue cleansing has begun -Soli J Sorabjee
-The Indian Express The Supreme Court has delivered a sterling judgment on convicted legislators. It could have gone further Democracy is a basic feature of our Constitution. The entry of people with colourful criminal antecedents in Parliament or statelegislatures is a menace to our democracy. The figures for criminals in Parliament and state legislatures are staggering. They touch 30 per cent of the members in the Lok Sabha and 31 per cent...
More »Convicted lawmakers cannot stay in office, says Supreme Court -Deepshikha Ghosh
-NDTV Lawmakers have to quit if they are convicted of a crime and can't stay on regardless of appeals to higher courts, the Supreme Court today said, in a big leap towards cleaning up Indian politics. The top court struck down a provision in the Representation of the People's Act (RPA) that protects convicted MPs and MLAs from disqualification if they appeal to a higher court. "The disqualification takes place from the date...
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