NEW DELHI: Politicians, their spouses and dependents would now have to declare their sources of income, along with their assets, for contesting elections, the Supreme Court ruled today.
In a landmark judgement, the Apex Court passed a slew of measures to reform the electoral process, observing that the “purity” of electoral process was fundamental to the “survival of a healthy democracy”.
It asked the Centre to put in place a mechanism to periodically collect data of the elected representatives, their spouses and dependents to examine whether there was any “disproportionate increase” in their assets and recommend appropriate action in such cases. (AGENCIES)