PANJIM: Aimed to have more transparent elections, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has made it mandatory for political parties to explain the reasons behind the selection of candidates with a criminal past along with making public their criminal antecedents.
The CEO Kunal along with District Election Officers (DEOs) held meeting with the representatives of the political parties and reiterated Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines on maintaining COVID-19 protocol, enforcement of model code of conduct and publication of criminal antecedents.
“Parties were also instructed to strictly adhere to ECIs no campaign directions till January 15,” CEO said.
Sources said that following directions from ECI, it is mandatory for political parties to upload on their website detailed information regarding individuals with pending criminal cases selected as poll candidates.
“They will also have to give a reason for selecting the candidate with criminal records,” sources said adding CEO will strictly monitor the process once the nomination process begins.
Such details have to be published within 48 hours of filing of nomination in one local newspaper and one national newspaper and on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, at least three times.
As per available information, 28 per cent of the sitting MLAs have criminal background.
The filing of nominations will begin from January 21. The elections are scheduled on February 14.
