Parliament should make a law to ensure candidates with criminal antecedents don't enter public life and take part in law-making, the Supreme Court said today. The Supreme Court today declined to bar election candidates with chargesheets in criminal cases from running for office, and issued directions with a view to curb the criminalisation of politics. The filing of a chargesheet cannot be grounds for the disqualification of candidates, the court said. The five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, had reserved its verdict on August 28. Today, it said candidates must declare their criminal antecedents, and that political parties must put these up on their websites. Parliament should make a law to ensure candidates with criminal antecedents don't enter public life and take part in law-making, it said. The court also said parties should issue declarations and give the antecedents wide publicity in the electronic media. Under the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act, lawmakers are barred from running for office only after being convicted in criminal cases. The Supreme Court bench -- also comprising Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra -- had earlier indicated that voters have a right to know the antecedents of candidates, and the Election Commission could be asked to direct political parties to ensure that candidates facing criminal charges don't contest on their tickets using their poll symbols. The Centre has contended that the judiciary shouldn't venture into the legislative arena by creating a pre-condition which would adversely affect the right of the candidates to participate in polls -- as there's already the RP Act, which deals with the issue of disqualification.