The Supreme Court has lobbed the ball back to Parliament’s court asking the latter to deal with growing criminalisation of politics. The law has to be made by Parliament, said the apex court, in order to disqualify legislators with proven criminal antecedents. There is no denying the fact that criminals have entered the political system through the electoral route, using money, muscle power and political patronage to gain some amount of legitimacy. The SC’s directions to rectify “an extremely disastrous and lamentable situation” will require a robust system that will not buckle under political pressure. Since democracy is all about options and that only the best candidate should win, the Court wants the electorate to take an informed decision.

Source: dna September 26, 2018 01:30 UTC