To discourage tainted candidates from contesting elections, the Election Commission of India has demanded that political parties will have to disclose the criminal records of all their candidates and also explain the reason why that particular candidate has been chosen to contest. The EC also dutifully mentioned that candidates should not make hate speeches which vitiate the atmosphere and that a special cell reporting directly to the CEC is being constituted to monitor the criminal records of the would be MPs and MLAs. It is pertinent to note that 233 of the 539 MPs ( an astounding 43%) elected during the 2019 general elections had criminal records. Hate speeches by candidates are the new normal with many from the ruling party and its fringe groups going so far as to openly demand the extermination of the minority community. Even the SC has time and again exhorted parties to field 'clean' candidates but sadly to no avail. Hate and crime have been ruthlessly mainstreamed now and unless the parties undertake self censorship and take it upon themselves to weed out dubious candidates from the electoral process, such sanctimonious appeals will remain just appeals-- words hanging in the air.
