Supreme Court’s order weighs down heavily upon Kejriwal — Check out how many AAP MLAs have criminal cases

• Supreme Court order political parties to detail the criminal history of the candidates nominated by them on their official websites and justify why they have given them a seat.
• The court says the candidates’ ability to win the elections is not grounds for them to run for a seat.
• Arvind Kejriwal is now under pressure to justify the large number of MLAs who won the 2020 Delhi Assembly election and also have a history of criminal convictions.

Alarmed by the growing concerns over the criminalization of politics, the Supreme Court has mandated political parties to upload the criminal history of their candidates on their respective official websites.

The county’s apex has given parties a deadline 72 hours to issue a full list of candidates that are contesting the elections — and also have a criminal record — to poll bodies. In addition, the parties must justify why they have given a seat to someone with a criminal background.

In the court’s opinion, the candidates’ ability to win elections is not a valid justification to field them as candidates — popularity is not reason enough for grounds to ignore criminal convictions.

When a party decides to field a candidate with a record, they will have 48 hours to ensure that his criminal history is published on the party website, social media and newspapers.

The court’s verdict follows the filing of contempt petitions by Ashwin Kumar Upadhyay and others. If a party fails to adhere to the directive, they will be held in contempt of court.

Statistics show that more than 50% of the AAP MLAs winning in the Delhi Assembly Elections 2020 have serious criminal cases against them.

The court’s order now weighs down heavily upon Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP leader and the sitting CM of Delhi. He must now justify why his party has chosen the candidates with criminal cases to contest in the recent assembly elections.

Checkout The Statistics of AAP MLAs with criminal convictions against them



Analysis Based on the Assets of the AAP MLAs in Delhi in 2020 elections



List of AAP MLAs Elected in 2020 Delhi Assembly Elections with criminal convictions



In September 2018, a constitution bench consisting of five judges recommended that the central government enact laws immediately to ban those involved in serious crimes from contesting the elections and being selected as party officials. Ashwini Upadhyay, BJP leader and lawyer has now filed a contempt petition that no serious efforts have been taken to stop the criminalization of politics even after the court order.