We must not vote for those with self-declared criminal cases

Finally the Justice J.S. Verma Committee, set up in the aftermath of the horrendous Dec 2012 Delhi gang-rape to recommend amendments to criminal law, included a separate 42-page chapter (Chapter 13) on electoral reforms in its report in 2013.

The government referred this Chapter 13 to the Law Commission while continuing to ignore the panel's 170th report which had been lying with it since 1999.

The Law Commission, at the request of the Supreme Court, gave its fresh report on two specific issues this February 2014.

In the meanwhile, there was a lot of effort and action by public-spirited citizens and civil society organizations, some of which resulted in significant judgments by the Supreme Court and the Central Information Commission.

In all these instances, the entire political establishment got together to prevent all attempts at reducing the impact of criminalization on politics.