If Law Ministry has its way, 'netas' will soon have to disclose wives' income

New Delhi: Politicians will soon have to disclose the income of their wives thanks to a proposal being studied by the Law Ministry.

According to India Today, the Law Ministry has approached the Election Commission in this regard according to which the candidates will soon have to declare not only their source of income but of their spouses also while filing nominations to contest polls. 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has made a submission in this regard before the Supreme Court during a hearing in a case relating to MPs and MLAs amassing huge amount of wealth while holding office.

The CBDT also confirmed that talks with the Election Commission, which has agreed to its proposal in-principle, are in final stages.

 "This is for a healthier democracy... to usher in more transparency. We have had two rounds of discussions with the EC. The government has amended the Conduct of Election Rules to include a fresh column in the affidavit relating to the source of income of self and spouse", Attorney General KK Venugopal had told a bench headed by justice J Chelameswar.

The EC had approached the Law Ministry in this regard last year. 

Prior to that, a candidate was required to disclose details of assets and liabilities for self, spouse and three dependents in Form 26 while filing nomination paper but not the source of income. 

The bench also asked the government to consider legislating on setting up of new fast-rack courts to expedite criminal case trials against parliamentarians and legislators.

The apex court bench, which was given the names of seven Lok Sabha MPs and 98 MLAs across the country by the CBDT whose assets had seen a substantial hike in between two elections, also said it had perused the names of these politicians and will examine the issue.