India court pressures Modi on 'criminal' ministers

Thirteen of Mr Modi’s 45 ministers have been charged with criminal offences including eight facing serious charges, according to the Delhi-based Association of Democratic Reforms, a clean government advocacy group.

NEW DELHI // India’s top court said on Wednesday lawmakers with criminal backgrounds should not serve in government.

Thirteen ministers in the administration of prime minister Narendra Modi are currently facing charges for attempted murder, rioting and other offences.

The ruling shines a spotlight on Mr Modi and his cabinet after the right-wing premier swept to power this year pledging clean governance.

The supreme court ruled Mr Modi should be left to choose his cabinet at his discretion, but said it hoped the premier would take into account public expectations and India’s democratic values.

“We leave it to the wisdom of the prime minister to see whether people with criminal backgrounds are appointed as ministers,” Justice Dipak Misra said.

“Ultimately it is expected that the prime minister should consider and not choose a person with a criminal background and that is the constitution’s expectation,” said Mr Misra.

The court was handing down its judgement on a petition seeking to bar MPs with “criminal backgrounds” – including those charged but not yet convicted of crimes – from being appointed ministers in state and federal governments.

The court said it could not disqualify such MPs from cabinet. India bans those convicted of serious crimes from holding office but not those facing charges.

Mr Modi won a landslide election in May partly on a promise to clean up the government after the previous Congress-led administration was plagued by corruption and other scandals.

Thirteen of Modi’s 45 ministers have been charged with criminal offences including eight facing serious charges, according to the Delhi-based Association of Democratic Reforms, a clean government advocacy group.

Mr Modi’s most trusted aide and president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Amit Shah, faces charges of ordering extra-judicial killings and of extortion.

Water resources and Ganga rejuvenation minister Uma Bharti has 13 cases pending, including two charges related to attempted murder and six charges related to rioting, the group said.

MPs say the charges against them are false or trumped up by political opponents seeking to harm their reputations.

Rakesh Dwivedi, who was appointed to help the supreme court with the case, said the judgement stressed the premier should take into account “the fact that the criminalisation of politics destroys democracy”.

India has a long history of electing MPs with criminal records in a country where millions have traditionally voted strictly along caste and religious lines.

* Agence France-Presse