The Manipur High Court has directed the advocate general of Manipur to furnish a correct and comprehensive affidavit disclosing all details of FIRs and criminal cases relating to sitting and former MPs and MLAs, along with copies of the newspaper declarations filed by those who are contesting in the assembly elections.
The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice MV Muralidaran, issued the order in compliance with the Supreme Court order, asking 25 states and Union Territories and the high courts to place before it full and complete updated information about the status of cases pending against MPs and MLAs.
Amicus curiae, Y Nimolchand, pointed out that details furnished in the affidavits pertain to FIR cases which have been dropped or are in the process of being dropped and there is no clarity as to which are the cases which still remain against the sitting and former MPs and MLAs and which are the cases which have been closed, be it for one reason or the other.
The Amicus curiae also pointed out that the former and sitting MLAs/MPs, who are now contesting in the elections, have issued declarations in the prescribed format, which have been published in the newspapers, giving the details of the FIRs/criminal cases registered and pending against them. He submitted that there are several issues that still remain to be addressed.
The Amicus curiae pointed out that the name of one S Subhaschandra Singh, a sitting MLA, who resigned recently, does not even find mention in the affidavits, though his declaration in the newspapers, as a candidate for the assembly elections, discloses that there is one FIR registered against him.
The division bench, therefore, after hearing Amicus Curiae submission directed for a correct and comprehensive affidavits of MPs and MLAs to be furnish on next hearing on April 8, 2022.
