Maintaining that criminalisation of politics is unsettling the apex court expressed hope that someday criminals will not be able to enter politics.
It directed the legislature to consider framing a law to ensure decriminalisation of politics.
The Court said that all the candidates should declare their past criminal records to Election Commission before contesting elections as it is the right of voters to be informed about the antecedents of their candidates
A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said in the unanimous verdict said that political parties are obligated to put all the information about their candidates on their websites.
The apex court favoured wider publicity, through print and electronic media about the antecedents of candidates affiliated to political parties.
Watch:
Court’s ruling was on a batch of pleas raising a question whether lawmakers facing criminal trial can be disqualified from contesting elections at the stage of framing of charges against them. The status before the filing of these petitions was that lawmakers were barred under the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act from contesting elections only after their conviction in a criminal case.
(Inputs from PTI)