Politicians are now citing the landmark Supreme Court verdict making privacy a fundamental right to seek exemption from disclosing their spouses’ assets.
According to a report by The Economic Times, a parliamentary panel is set to move the Election Commission to reverse the rule in this regard in light o f the recent SC verdict.
As per the current rule, it is mandatory for the spouses of candidates contesting in elections to disclose the details of their income, property etc.
According to the report, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law & Justice, which has members cutting across party lines, has noted that the spouses of candidates should be treated as individuals on their own right with right to privacy, rather than be treated as mere “attached properties” of their husbands/wives just because the latter chose to enter public life and contest elections.
A nine-judge constitution bench on Thursday ruled that Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right as guaranteed by the Constitution while hearing a batch of petitions in the Aadhaar case. The bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar ruled that "right to privacy is an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 and entire Part III of the Constitution".
Interestingly, during the last Lok Sabha elections, some of the rich candidates' wives were richer than their husbands as per the disclosures in the nominations.
Quoting sources in the standing committee, the ET report says that the members have already noted the nomination paper for candidates becoming too intrusive in seeking very personal information from the spouses of candidates.
The Committee is headed by Anand Sharma and has Meenakshi Lekhi, Prabhat Jha, Rajani Patel (Cong), Sukhendu S Roy (TMC), Tariq Anwar (NCP), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), D Raja and Anu Aga (nominated) as members.
