New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to direct political parties to finalise their candidates before a substantial period saying unless legislature takes a call on the issue and makes suitable statutory provisions, it will not be permissible for the judiciary to lay down guidelines, .

The observations came in the judgement which held nine political parties including ruling BJP and Janata Dal (United) guilty of its contempt in 2020 Bihar assembly polls for disobeying an order requiring them to publish antecedents of candidates within 48 hours of selection or not less than two weeks before filing of nominations.

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A bench of justices R F Nariman and B R Gavai was suggested by senior advocate Vikas Singh, who appeared for the poll panel and amicus curiae and senior lawyer K V Vishwanathan that the apex court should give a direction to this effect as well.

“No doubt Vikas Singh, senior counsel, who first addressed this Court as a counsel for the ECI and later on as an Officer of the Court, made a suggestion that the political parties could be directed to finalise their candidates before a substantial period and as such, such a direction could be complied with,” Justice Nariman wrote in the judgement.

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“In our view, unless the competent legislature takes a call on the issue and makes suitable statutory provisions, it will not be permissible for this Court to lay down such a guideline,” the verdict said.

Viswanathan had also argued that the court should issue a direction to the EC to invoke powers “under Clause 16-A of the Symbols Order and take requisite action under the said clause to suspend, subject to terms and conditions, or withdraw recognition of such political party.”

Referring to a judgement of a five-judge constitution bench judgement, Justice Nariman said it has been held “in unequivocal terms” that the court cannot legislate.

The bench, however, said it was a ground reality that in most of the cases the candidates are finalised by the political parties between the periods commencing from the date of notification till the last date of withdrawal.

“Direction No. 4.4 requires the details to be published within 48 hours of the selection of the candidate or not less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier. There should be no difficulty insofar as requirement to publish the details within 48 hours from the selection of candidate is concerned,” the bench said.

It could thus be seen that in the light of the statutory provision as it exists, it would not be possible to follow the direction to publish the details prior to two weeks before the first date of filing of nomination, it said.

Singh, appearing for the poll panel, had said that in Bihar assembly polls, the filing of nomination papers for first phase commenced on October 1, 2020 and the political parties mostly finalised their candidates very late.

This led to filing of nominations by candidates in the last few days and hence, the apex court's directions to decide candidates two weeks before the nomination and disclosing their criminal records, if any, were not complied with, he had said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)