SC push for electoral reforms: Now candidates to declare not just income but source too

Those candidates contesting elections will now have to disclose their source of income and also that of their families, the Supreme Court said. The court on Friday allowed a petition filed by Lok Prahari an NGO which sought a direction to this effect.

The order would bring more transparency into the electoral process. Till now candidates had to declare their income and not the source.

S N Shukla, the general secretary of the NGO, had contended that candidates while filing their nomination papers, declare their assets, assets of their spouse, children and other dependents, but they do not reveal the sources of income. He said that a column in the nomination form list must be included so that the source of income is known.

During the hearing, the Central Board of Direct Taxes had told the court in an affidavit that a "prima facie verification" of election affidavits of MPs and MLAs by the Director General of Income Tax has "indicated discrepancies" in income disclosure made by seven Lok Sabha MPs and 98 MLAs.

OneIndia News