NEW DELHI — In a sweeping judicial intervention aimed at curbing political impunity, the Supreme Court has issued a groundbreaking directive mandating that law enforcement agencies attempt to investigate electoral fraud within a one-year deadline, rather than leaving the files open until the accused finish their terms in office.

The ruling comes after data from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections revealed that of the 3,87,430 FIRs registered for electoral offenses, less than 43 percent resulted in convictions. The remaining cases were left pending trial, under perpetual investigation, or quietly withdrawn by the newly elected government. "We have always demanded a high degree of moral rectitude from our representatives," said a state spokesperson. "That is precisely why we register hundreds of thousands of FIRs before carefully losing them in the archives."

The court highlighted a systemic pattern of delayed accountability, pointing to a 2014 by-election where Rs 20,48,355 in cash was seized from a premises. Despite the physical presence of the money, the FIR was smoothly quashed in 2015 because investigators failed to provide "specific averments" regarding why a massive pile of unaccounted cash during a campaign might be suspicious.

"This one-year deadline is completely unreasonable," noted a senior police official, carefully placing an active bribery docket into a filing cabinet marked for shredding. "If we are forced to actually conclude these investigations, state governments will have to drastically accelerate their schedule for withdrawing the charges."