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Journalism of Courage
After being criticised by most political parties for stringent candidature norms for polls, the Election Commission (EC) is in for a pleasant surprise from the Congress. The Congress, learning its lessons from past elections, has asked all the shortlisted aspirants to fill up the form ‘‘before’’ their names are finalised.
The party has been repeatedly embarrassed with chosen candidates revealing secrets on the day of the nominations while filing sworn affidavits before the returning officers.
Put together, the five states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram have over 600 seats. The Congress state-wise candidates’ ‘‘screening committees’’ would shortlist a minimum of three names per seat, which would be 900 aspirants to 1,000 people, conservatively.
The party has asked all the 900 or more aspirants to first fill up the four-page EC form, on a sworn affidavit stating their criminal antecedents, educational qualifications, financial dues, etc. The forms would be then submitted to the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the AICC which would go through the affidavits and finalise the candidates. Chief of the CEC Ram Niwas Mirdha says: ‘‘This is the best way to get clean, honest candidates. Also, this is the way of ascertaining that there are no surprises on the day of the filing nominations.’’
He had suggested that aspirants who have been ‘‘shortlisted by AICC observers for consideration of the Committee should fill the affidavit’’ so that the ‘‘candidate’s full profile is available for consideration at the appropriate stage.’’
The EC form requires that candidates provide details of criminal cases ‘‘in which cognisance has been taken.’’ It also asks the candidate to give details of ‘‘assets immovable, movable, bank balance, shares, debentures, jewellery, agricultural land, non-agricultural land, buildings, apartments.’’
Besides this, the candidate is also asked for details of ‘‘loans and liability, if any, in particular whether there are any dues of any public financial institutions or government.’’ These details also include income tax, wealth tax, sales tax, etc. The candidates would have also to swear on affidavit their educational qualifications.
