24 Accusation should not prevent election participation

Misleading title in the linked article: the court has asked that a legislature be formed to cleanse political parties of leaders accused of serious crimes.

Had the headline been true it would have been a dire request from the apex court because this is a democracy and nobody, including accused persons, should be stopped from contesting. Alleged criminals should only be rooted out by the voters, if they so choose, by simply not casting votes in their favour. It is not at all unlikely that honest men standing for elections, and looking likely to win, will have their public images tainted with cases worked out by those with money and power looking to get rid of political opponents. Lastly, they have been accused, not convicted. The court certainly knows better—or so I hope.

In fact, however, the court’s request is sound: it wants political parties to highlight its members, if any, who have serious (who gets to define what counts as serious, though?) cases against them. As it stands, without addendum, I welcome this suggestion.