Supreme Court Had Made It Mandatory For Election Candidates, Their Spouses And Their Dependants To Declare Source Of Income.

The Supreme Court had made it mandatory for candidates contesting elections to declare the sources of income for them, their spouses and dependants in a landmark judgment that aims to ensure probity among politicians.
The judgment, which comes 15 years after the top court, in another landmark judgment, asked candidates to disclose their assets also expressed concern that the trend of undue accretion of assets of legislators and their associates is an indicator of the beginning of a failing democracy.
A bench led by Justice J Chelameswar also said that candidates must also disclose their or their families’ interest or stake in government contracts.
Directing the concerned authority (the Election Commission) to make changes in the nomination form, the top court said non-disclosure of such information would amount to corrupt practice under the law, and ground for a lawmaker’s disqualification.
Increase in the assets of legislators or their associates disproportionate to the known sources of their respective incomes is, by compelling inference, a constitutionally impermissible conduct and may eventually constitute an offence under the anti-corruption law, the court said. This should be a ground to disqualify the leaders, it observed.
The SC judgment was delivered on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Lucknow-based NGO, Lok Prahari and will have a bearing on the forthcoming assembly elections scheduled in five states this year, starting with the Karnataka polls.
To enable and empower the citizen to take an informed decision while voting in polls, the court directed the government to put in place a permanent mechanism in place to collect the data of the legislators wealth and place it in public domain.
 “There were many instances where assets had multiplied manifold, but there was no explanation on how these were created. Also, a lot of candidates in their column meant for their profession wrote social activity, without giving specific details of their jobs. The Commission felt as representatives of people, they should give a clear account of their incomes, assets and liabilities,” the former CEC said.