SC notice to Centre, EC on fresh plea against freebies

The Supreme Court has sought response from the Centre and the the Election Commission on a fresh plea against the practice of political parties promising freebies during elections.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued notices to the Union of India and the poll panel on a petition filed by Bengaluru resident Shashank J Sreedhara.

The petition filed by advocate Srinivasan has also sought a direction to poll panel to take effective steps to restrain political parties from making promises of freebies during the pre-election period.

"The unregulated promise of freebies imposes a significant and unaccounted financial burden on the public exchequer. Further, there exists no mechanism to ensure the fulfilment of pre-poll promises on which votes were secured," the plea said.

The top court tagged the matter with other pleas on similar issue.

The apex court had earlier agreed to list for hearing pleas against the practice of political parties promising freebies during elections after senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, appearing for lawyer and PIL petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay, sought urgent hearing of the matter.

Upadhyay's plea said there should be a total ban on populist measures to gain undue political favour from voters as they violate the Constitution, and the EC should take suitable deterrent measures.

It also urged the court to declare that the promise of irrational freebies from public funds before elections unduly influences the voters, disturbs the level playing field and vitiates the purity of the poll process.

“Petitioner submits that the 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,” the plea 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,” it said.

The petition sought a direction to the EC 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”.

The petitioner has urged 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 elections violates several articles of the Constitution, including Article 14.