The Chief Electoral Officer, Dr Rajat Kumar, has issued instructions regarding the candidates contesting the elections having criminal records.
He stipulated that they must provide the details of the criminal cases pending against them and other such antecedents, in the specified format while filing the nominations—-that is Declaration in Format C-1.
At the same time, these candidates are required to inform their respective parties about these criminal cases and antecedents.
The CEO asked this category of candidates to publish these details in widely circulated newspapers in the areas of their respective constituencies’ thrice on three different dates and also ensure wide publicity on electronic media. This should be done during the period from the day following the last date for withdrawal of candidature and up to two days before the date of polling.
In pursuance of the instructions issued by the Election Commission following Supreme Court directions in 2011, the CEO also directed the political parties, to which the candidates with criminal records belonged, to make the declaration in Format C-2 on their part, providing the details of the criminal records and such other antecedents of their candidates. He asked them to publish these details similarly using print and electronic media.
These political parties are also mandated to upload their Format C-2 in their websites.
Dr Rajat Kumar said the details about Format C-1 sand Format C-2 and related instructions are available on http://www.eci.nic.in//, www.ceotelangana.nic.in. They can also be obtained from the Returning Officers concerned.