No criminal should become a lawmaker: BP

With a survey claiming that politicians with criminal records have an abnormal rise in income, BJP today said it has always favoured electoral reforms that ban such individuals from contesting but wanted that cases of political agitations should be separated from those of heinous crimes.
"BJP has always been fighting against criminalisation of politics. Our demand has been that no criminal should become a lawmaker. We also want comprehensive electoral reforms. But the cases of political agitation should be separated from those of heinous crime," party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
He pointed out that BJP has suggested in the past that those leaders having two cases of heinous crimes against them should be barred from contesting but said it is up to the Election Commission to take a view on the issue.

"We want cleansing of politics. But our Criminal Procedure Code does not discriminate between heinous crime and political agitations," Javadekar said, adding that there should be differentiation between the two types of cases while deciding whether a leaders should be stopped from contesting.