Big decision of Supreme Court, no need to disclose every asset of candidates

The Supreme Court has said that during election nomination, there is no need for a candidate to disclose all his assets, unless it affects the voting. Along with this, the bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sanjay Kumar canceled the order of Gauhati High Court while maintaining the membership of independent MLA of Arunachal Pradesh Karikho Kri.

The membership of Karikho Kri, who had won from Teju assembly constituency in 2019, was canceled by the Gauhati High Court. He had filed a petition against this in the Supreme Court. The Court said that candidates are not required to disclose every movable asset owned by them or their dependents, unless they are quite expensive. After Karikho won the election, Congress candidate Nuni Tayang had filed a petition under the Representation of the People Act demanding cancellation of his victory. The petition had claimed that Karikho did not disclose the three vehicles of his wife and son while filing his nomination. The High Court had ruled against Karikho and voided his victory.

The Supreme Court said that it is not the voter's right to know every information related to the candidate contesting the election. It is not necessary for a candidate for public office to disclose all his/her information. The candidate also has the right to privacy. The court said why should the candidate give information about his or her family members' clothes, shoes, crockery, stationery, furniture, unless it is very valuable. The court said that if a candidate or his family has expensive watches, they will have to be disclosed because they reflect a luxury lifestyle.