Candidates contesting the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections have to disclose information about their criminal antecedents, assets and liabilities, and educational qualifications along with their nomination papers.
Telangana State Election Commission officials who issued the instructions taking cue from a similar step taken by Election Commission of India, have prescribed revised formats for disclosure of the information by the candidates. It is done to effectively give information about the candidates’ background to the electors.
According to the revised format, every candidate shall, along with his or her nomination paper, file an affidavit in the format prescribed sworn before a Notary Public or a Magistrate of the First Class on a stamp paper of the value of ₹ 20.
“Failure on the part of the candidate to file affidavit or filing incomplete declaration make the nomination of the defaulting candidate liable to be rejected by the Returning Officer concerned as per relevant rules,” according to the instructions. The returning officer concerned shall display a copy of the declaration on the notice board of his or her office. The copies will be available to other candidates on demand, and to representatives of electronic and print media.
