Supreme Court seeks status of criminal cases of lawmakers pending in courts

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought details of the criminal records of Members of Parliament and the status of the cases pending against them in various courts, following a submission that 34 per cent of lawmakers have criminal antecedents as per the disclosures made in the affidavits at the time of contesting elections.

The bench asked petitioners and others to furnish the details during the course of hearing of a batch of petitions seeking lifetime ban on convicted persons from contesting Assembly or Parliamentary elections.

The court is examining whether such a ban would violate Article 14 of the Constitution, when such a disqualification has not been provided either under the Constitution or under the Representation of the People Act.