Candidates failing to make full disclosures liable to be disqualified: SC
14 May 2014
The Supreme Court has held that candidates contesting elections can be disqualified for failure to disclose information about assets and liabilities of even their spouse and dependent children.
A person contesting elections is also under legal obligation to disclose information on his or her criminal antecedents or educational qualifications, a bench comprising Justices Surinder Singh Nijjar and Arjan Kumar Sikri said.
If a candidate leaves any column seeking information on criminal antecedents, educational qualifications and assets and liabilities blank at the time of filing nomination paper, then it will result in rejection of application at the scrutiny stage itself, the apex court said.
The apex court made the observation while hearing an appeal against disqualification filed by Kisan Shankar Kathore, who was elected to the Maharashtra Assembly in the October 2004 elections from Ambernath constituency.
The court, dismissed the appeal.