Just disclosing assets won't be enough for those contesting elections. The Supreme Court ruled that declaring the source of income will be mandatory too. And prospective candidates won't only have to specify their own source of income, but that of their spouse and three dependent children as well.
“People will now know where the candidates have got their income from,” Jagdeep Chhokar, founding member of the Association of Democratic Reforms, a citizens rights group.
The Supreme Court, in its 56 page judgement, asked the government to put in place a mechanism to periodically collect data of the elected representatives, their spouses and dependents to examine whether there was any “disproportionate increase” in their assets and recommend appropriate action in such cases.
The top court said that as per the mechanism, details regarding a disproportionate hike in the assets should be placed before the “appropriate legislature” to consider the eligibility of such lawmakers to continue as members of Parliament and assemblies.
The judgement came on a petition filed by NGO Lok Prahari, which sought creation of a permanent mechanism to investigate candidates whose assets have grown disproportionately during their tenure as legislators and parliamentarians.
While experts agree the landmark judgement will help curb corruption in the electoral process, they said the challenge lies in implementation. “There is always a possibility of people not disclosing information properly,” said Chhokar. “It will need further work to find out whether the declarations are correct.”
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