New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India had issued the notice to Centre and Election Commission of India
for political parties wooing voters with the freebies, cash and liquor ahead of upcoming assembly elections.
The apex court had claimed the promise of freebies as ‘serious issue’.
The Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said, “I want to know how to control this legally. Can this be
done during these elections? It has to be for the next election. It’s a serious issue. The
freebies budget goes beyond the regular budget.”
Notable that SC had earlier asked the EC to frame guidelines to prevent the voters from the promise of
freebies by political leaders.
SC had issued the notice while hearing a petition seeking seize the election symbol or de-register a
political party that promises or distributes “irrational freebies” from public funds before
elections.
Court will hear the matter again after four weeks.
The petition said there should be a total ban on such populist measures to gain undue
political favours from the voters as they violate the Constitution and the ECI should take
suitable deterrent measures.
Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay had file the petition and sought the direction to the
Centre to enact a law in this regard.
Advocate Upadhyay said, “Petitioner submits that recent trend of political parties to influence
voters by offering freebies with an eye on elections is not only the greatest threat to the
survival of democratic values but also injures the spirit of the Constitution.”
He said, “This unethical practice is just like giving bribes to the electorate at the cost of the
exchequer to stay in power and must be avoided to preserve democratic principles and
practices.”
The petition also sought a direction to the ECI to insert an additional condition in the relevant
paragraphs of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968, which deals
with conditions for recognition as a state party, that a “political party shall not
promise/distribute irrational freebies from the public fund before the election”.
Advocate Upadhyay urged to the apex court to declare that the promise or distribution of
private goods or services, which are not for public purposes, from public funds before the
election violates several articles of the Constitution, including Article 14 (equality before law).
Bureau Report
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