Hyderabad : In order to put a halt to the criminalization of politics and to keep at bay the leaders with criminal background and cases, the Election Commission is coming up with some strict guidelines. The EC has determined to prevent the leaders with criminal past to abstain from contesting elections in Telangana which is going to polls on December 7.
This was informed by the EC to the CEO and district Collectors and others involved in the process of electioneering. Through a video conference, the Deputy Election Commissioner Bhushan instructed that the candidates in the poll fray should disclose their criminal records. If they failed to do so, the EC will check and cancel the candidature despite their winning the polls, if found guilty of holding crime records and suffered jail term.
Thus, the candidates who are in the poll fray in Telangana will lose their elections even after winning the seat if proved guilty of having criminal record. The candidates should disclose their criminal records before filing nominations as per the Supreme Court guidelines, according to Election Commission. The EC has allowed the candidates in fray to spend about Rs 18 lakh towards election campaigning expenditure for the polls.
The Election Commission has instructed the officials to see that the political leaders with crime records should come out with the details which have to be published in the newspapers and telecast in electronic television channels for three days. (NSS)
