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Lok Prahari, Through Its General Secretary S.N. Shukla v. Union of India

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2018 INSC 164Decided 16 Feb 2018
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 784 of 2015
Justice J. Chelameswar · Justice S. Abdul Nazeer

Background

Lok Prahari, a registered society largely made up of retired civil servants, filed a public-interest writ petition asking the Supreme Court to require election candidates to disclose, in their nomination papers, the assets and sources of income of themselves, their spouses and their dependents, as well as any government contracts held by them. The petitioner argued that hiding this information from voters amounted to a "corrupt practice" under election law, since it kept the electorate in the dark about a candidate's true financial standing.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that non-disclosure of assets and sources of income of a candidate and his/her associates constitutes "undue influence," a corrupt practice under Section 123(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, relying on its own earlier ruling in the Krishnamoorthy case on a parallel Panchayat-election provision. It further held that candidates must disclose any contracts they, their spouse or dependents hold with the government or public companies, since this bears on whether a candidate has improperly profited from office. The Court allowed all the specific prayers seeking amendment of the candidate disclosure form (Form 26), reasoning that voters need this information to make an informed choice, and allowed the writ petition without imposing costs on either side.

Lesson Learnt

Candidates for public office are legally required to disclose their own and their family's assets, income sources, and government contracts; deliberately hiding this information from voters is itself treated as a corrupt electoral practice, not a mere technical omission.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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