Supreme Court: any voter can file criminal complaint over false election affidavit
The Supreme Court has ruled that any citizen or voter can directly file a criminal complaint in court against a candidate or elected representative who gives false information in an election affidavit.
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has delivered a significant judgment that makes the country's election process more transparent and opens the way to holding political leaders more accountable to the public. The court made clear that if a candidate or elected representative gives false information in an election affidavit, or hides material facts such as assets, educational qualifications or criminal background, any ordinary citizen or voter can file a criminal complaint against them directly in court.
A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu gave the ruling under the Representation of the People Act. Until now, it was believed that only the Election Commission or the public servant concerned, that is, a government official, could file a complaint in such cases. The court said that if the legislature had intended cognisance of the offence of giving false information in an affidavit to be taken only on a public servant's complaint, the law would have been amended explicitly to say so.
The ruling is expected to curb the arbitrariness of politicians in electoral politics to a considerable extent. Candidates will no longer be able to escape by evading only the Election Commission or government officials. If any aware citizen in a constituency sees evidence of discrepancies or concealment in a politician's affidavit, they can file the case directly in a magistrate's court. Even after winning an election, the politician will have this threat hanging over them.
Politicians had argued that private complaints would set off a rush of false cases filed out of political vengeance. The court rejected this argument. Candidates can no longer take the risk of hiding assets, criminal cases and other personal information in their affidavits.
Officials have often avoided registering cases against politicians because of political pressure or administrative delay. With ordinary citizens now able to take part directly, this obstacle has been removed.
Under Section 125A, a case can be registered for concealing or misstating assets, concealing criminal cases, or giving false information on education, address, PAN and loans in the affidavit filed with an election nomination.
