Manuscript Number : SHISRRJ1925014

Criminalisation of politics in India is a matter of serious concern. There is an increasing trend of criminal elements in Indian political system. Criminalisation of politics creates a big hurdle in establishing a free and fair election . It undermines the democratic values. Many committees and commissions were formed by Indian government to study and check criminalisation of politics. Government has implemented only few recommendations of all these committees. It seems government is not very serious in elimination of criminal elements from politics. Supreme Court and activism of supreme court have contributed in checking of involvement of criminals in electoral process through its judgement up to a certain extent. Election commission is not able to effectively curb the criminalisation of politics through The Representation of people act 1951 and Model code of conduct. The government will have to come with comprehensive laws to ban candidate from contesting election ,who are facing criminal charges against against them . Along with increasing high literacy rate there is also need of giving value education to children ,it will help in long term to eliminate criminal elements from electoral process, because an educated voter takes rational decision while casting his or her votes. To keep our democratic system healthy, it is very necessary to prevent entry of candidate with criminal background in electoral system. The basic purpose of this article is to analyse the criminalisation of politics, its nature, and reasons for its persistence in electoral politics and how criminalisation of politics impact voters. To establish true democracy on the basis of will of people, it is necessary to elect our representative through conduct of free and fair election. – T.N.Seshan ,former Chief Election Commission of India.