Declare election of candidate concealing criminal antecedents null and void: SC

The Supreme Court has said that the election of a candidate, who conceals his or her criminal antecedents during the nomination process, should be declared null and void.

The apex court ruled that the suppression of criminal antecedents, especially relating to heinous crimes, by a candidate during nomination deprived voters to make an informed choice and created impediments in the free exercise of electoral right.

The judgment was delivered in a case relating to non-disclosure of full particulars of criminal cases pending against a candidate, Krishnamoorthy, who was elected as the President of Thekampatti Panchayat, Mettupalayam Taluk in Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu in 2006.

Krishnamoorthy's election was challenged on the sole ground that he had filed a false declaration suppressing details of the criminal cases pending against him, and therefore, his nomination ought to have been rejected.