Supreme Court says that Voters have the right to know about the full background of a candidate

While hearing the Bhim Rao Baswanth Rao Patil vs. K. Madan Mohan Rao & Ors. case, the Supreme Court of India observed that “the elector or voter’s right to know about the full background of a candidate evolved through court decisions is an added dimension to the rich tapestry of our constitutional jurisprudence.” In this case, the present appeal by special leave questions a judgment and order of the Telangana High Court dismissing an application that sought rejection of the respondent’s election petition. The appellant contended that the election petition did not disclose any cause of action and was barred in law and was liable to be rejected. The election petition alleged, amongst others, that the appellant furnished false information in Form 26. The High Court rejected the respondent’s election petition and allowed the appellant’s application. Further, the matter was presented before the Supreme Court bench including Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice S Ravindra Bhat where the petitioner challenged the High Court’s decision. 

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the HC order stating, “the right to vote, based on an informed choice, is a crucial component of the essence of democracy. This right is precious and was the result of a long and arduous fight for freedom, for Swaraj, where the citizen has an inalienable right to exercise her or his right to franchise. This finds articulation in Article 326 of the Constitution which enacts that ‘every person who is a citizen of India and who is not less than twenty-one years of age on such date as may be fixed and is not otherwise disqualified under this Constitution or any law made by the appropriate Legislature on the ground of non-residence, unsoundness of mind, crime or corrupt or illegal practice, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such election’”. Along with this, the bench also observed that despite democracy being an essential feature of the Constitution, paradoxically the right to vote is to be recognized as a Fundamental right. The SC stated that “Democracy has been held to be a part of one of the essential features of the Constitution. Yet, somewhat paradoxically, the right to vote has not been recognized as a Fundamental Right yet; it was termed as a ‘mere’ statutory right.

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