Backed by two former chief election commissioners, N Gopalaswami and TS Krishnamurthy, the National Election Watch, an NGO, has called for mandating background affidavits on criminal cases, assets etc, by the candidates in the ongoing presidential and upcoming vice-presidential elections.

The NGO said the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Act enacted in 1952 has no provision for the affidavit as it was then not required from those contesting to parliament or legislatures. But in 2003, the supreme court directed the election commission to get the background information on criminal records, assets, liabilities, education etc, on affidavit for the sake of the electorate to exercise their franchise with full knowledge about the candidate it is voting for.

“The president is the head of the union executive. Implementation of the supreme court judgment will bring about more transparency and will set a good example for others to follow. The election commission should take lead on this and issue appropriate orders for its implementation,” it said.

Gopalaswami said the election commission can exercise its inherent powers under Article 324 which vests powers in it for superintendence, direction and control of all elections to order the affidavits. “...it is in the fitness of things that all elected offices in the country, from the lowest level, namely the panchayats, to the highest, namely the president (and vice-president) of India, are brought within the same discipline.”

Krishnamurthy said the supreme court judgment is not clear but in continuation of its observation on the Right to Information, it “should extend to presidential electors as well for the electors to know all about the candidates before exercising their votes”.

“This is more so as the party whip does not apply to this election. The election commission can extend the logic of the SC order under its inherent powers to require the candidates to file the affidavits in the interest of free and fair elections,” Krishnamurthy stressed.

The election watch pointed out that the court order requires “information on affidavit as a necessary part of nomination paper” from each candidate seeking election to parliament and it applies to the presidential candidates as well since parliament is defined by Article 79 of the constitution as consisting of “the president and two Houses to be known respectively as the council of states (Rajya Sabha) and the house of the people (Lok Sabha)”.

In a letter to the election commission, the NGO said it would be defaulting in proper implementation of the supreme court directive if it does not take affidavits from candidates in the elections for the president and the vice-president.

“The office of the president is one of the most important positions in our country and right now it is the only public office where the candidates are not required to submit self-sworn affidavits on their background details at the time of filing their nominations,” the NGO said.