Lucknow, July 5 (TIWN) The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has asked the Parliament and the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take effective measures to 'remove criminals from politics' and break the unholy nexus among them, politicians and bureaucrats.

A bench comprising Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh made the observations while rejecting the bail plea of BSP MP Atul Kumar Singh a.k.a. Atul Rai.  The court said it is the responsibility of Parliament to show its collective will to restrain criminals from entering politics or legislature to save democracy and ensure that the country governed on democratic principles and the rule of law.  The court said that considering the criminal history of 23 cases against Rai, might of the accused, evidence on record and the possibility tampering with the evidence, it did not find any ground to grant bail to him at this stage.  Rai was booked by the Hazratganj police in Lucknow for abetting the suicide of a girl and her witness outside the Supreme Court in August last year.