9 political parties in SC's line of fire over criminal candidates, 8 fined

In its drive to decriminalise politics, the Supreme Court on Tuesday cracked whip on political parties for hiding information on their poll candidates in Bihar.

Nine parties including the BJP and Congress were held guilty of contempt and eight of them fined by the court for not making public criminal records of their candidates.
Parties "refuse to wake up from deep slumber", the judges said.

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The Congress, BJP and five other parties were fined ₹ 1 lakh each and the CPM and Nationalist Congress Party were fined ₹ 5 lakh for not making public their candidates' criminal cases ahead of last year's Bihar election.

The Supreme Court said that records of criminal cases have to be made public by parties within 48 hours of the candidate's selection.