Lok Sabha Elections 2024: CEC Tightens Participation Norms For Candidates With Criminal Background. Here's How

Political parties that nominate candidates with criminal backgrounds would have to explain the rationale behind the decision and candidates would have to put all relevant information in public domain.

The poll panel has introduced a ‘Know Your Candidate’ or KYC app that will enable voters to find out if a candidate nominated from his constituency has any criminal antecedents.

Source : Election Commission of India

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday that the poll panel has a ‘Know Your Candidate’ or KYC app that will enable voters to find out if a candidate nominated from his constituency has any criminal antecedents. Further, he said political parties that nominate candidates with criminal backgrounds would have to explain the rationale behind the decision while the candidates themselves would have to put all relevant information in the public domain.

Addressing a press conference in the national capital during which he announced the full roster for the seven-phased Lok Sabha elections, CEC Kumar said, “We have an application called ‘Know Your Candidate’. It will enable voters to find out if the candidates representing constituencies where they belong have criminal backgrounds.”

“The application will have full details of all the assets and liabilities that such candidates hold and voters will have access to all relevant information,” the CEC added.

Further putting the onus on candidates with criminal antecedents to make public their backgrounds, Kumar said, “Candidates with a criminal past would have to put out the information thrice in newspapers and television channels. The parties that they represent will also have to explain the reasoning behind putting them on their tickets for the Lok Sabha elections. They would also have to say why such candidates were preferred over others.”

Calling on the voters to exercise vigilance and help the poll panel “clean up the system”, the CEC said, “We have also rolled out cVigil app which enable voters to report any cases of cash distribution or inducements to the commission. All they have to do is to take a photo of the incident or type text and send it to us. We will capture the location of the person concerned and will send across a team within 100 minutes to take appropriate action.”