New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today notified the Center and the Election Commission of guidelines on “freebies” promised by political parties before elections. The court called it a “serious issue,” the court said the “freebie budget” goes beyond the regular budget. It requested a response from the polling station and the union government within four weeks.
The CJI said the Supreme Court, in another matter, ordered the polling station to issue guidelines on the matter, but the polling station only held one meeting whose outcome is unknown.
“Within the limited scope, we had instructed the Election Commission to prepare guidelines. But then they held only one meeting at our directions. They asked for opinions from political parties and after that I don’t know what happened,” NV Ramana, the Chief Justice of the Indies, said.
A bank of CJI NV Ramana, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Hima Kohli heard a plea filed by lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay stating that public funds were being misused by all political parties, driving states deeper into debt. Senior lawyer Vikas Singh appeared before the petitioner.
The plea asks for instructions from the Election Commission to confiscate election symbols and deregister political parties that promised to hand out irrational freebies from public funds. “Citizens’ money is being misused despite the rules of the election commission,” the statement said.
The plea also argues that promising or distributing irrational freebies from public funds before elections could improperly influence voters. “It shakes the roots of free and fair elections, disrupts the level playing field and damages the purity of the electoral process,” pleaded Mr Upadhyay, adding that the “recent trend” of offering free gifts in view of elections “not only pose the greatest threat to the survival of democratic values, but also damage the spirit of the Constitution”. The court notes that it has also found in the past that there is no level playing field and that parties make more promises to win elections.
The plea called it an “unethical practice,” akin to bribing the electorate at the expense of the treasury to stay in power. “It should be avoided to preserve democratic principles and practices,” the plea added.