The Supreme Court Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Justice N V Ramana on January 25, 2022 issued notice on a plea seeking directions to Election Commission (EC) to frame guidelines to stop political parties from promising or distributing “irrational freebies from public fund.
Petitioners logic
- Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioner Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, pointed out that states were already facing huge debt burdens and such freebies will only put stress on people more as the money ultimately has to come from them.
Supreme Court opinion
- The Supreme Court bench agreed that the issue raised in Upadhyay’s plea is “serious”.
- The judges referred to the 2013 judgment in the S Subramaniam Balaji vs State of Tamil Nadu and Others case, in which the apex court said that “although, the law is obvious that the promises in the election manifesto cannot be construed as ‘corrupt practice’ under Section 123 of Representation of People Act, the reality cannot be ruled out that distribution of freebies of any kind, undoubtedly, influences all people”.
- Noting that there is no law governing manifestos, the court also asked the EC to frame guidelines and stressed the need “for a separate legislation to be passed by the legislature in this regard for governing the political parties in our democratic society
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