The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Centre and the Election Commission on a plea seeking contempt proceedings for allegedly violating the court’s September judgement which made it mandatory for candidates to publish in newspapers about pending criminal cases against them after filing nomination for elections, PTI reported.

The Supreme Court sought responses from the three deputy election commissioners, law secretary and the cabinet secretary for not complying with its judgement. “It is a very important issue and has to be heard,” said a bench comprising Justices RF Nariman and Vineet Saran, according to The Times of India. The court gave the Election Commission two weeks’ time to respond to the notice.

On September 25, 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench had refused to disqualify politicians against whom criminal charges are pending from contesting elections. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, had told Parliament to empower the Election Commission. However, the court asked candidates to declare their criminal antecedents to help the voter make an informed choice. It also asked political parties to publish the criminal pasts of their candidates on their websites and publicise it.