Stop the 'unethical practice' of distributing freebies using public funds: Supreme Court to EC and Centre

"Money of the citizens is being misused despite the EC rules" claims a petition filed in the Supreme Court to stop political parties from distributing freebies.

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Jitesh Surjiani | 25 Jan '22

Last week, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay requesting the apex court to intervene in the growing menace of political parties distributing irrational freebies from public funds before elections. Calling it an 'unethical practice', akin to bribing the electorate at the cost of the exchequer to stay in power, the plea also sought directions to the Election Commission to seize election symbols and deregister political parties that misused the public funds.

Rather than promising better rule of law, equal pay for equal work, clean water, equal quality education, quality healthcare, quality infrastructure, speedy justice, free legal aid, citizen charter, judicial charter, efficient police system, effective administrative system, political parties arbitrarily promised irrational freebies from the public fund, the petition argued.

A bench of CJI NV Ramana, Justice AS Bopanna, and Justice Hima Kohli took up the matter for hearing today. Calling it a "serious issue", 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."

Taking cognizance of the issue, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and the Election Commission and sought a response from the poll body and the union government in four weeks. The apex court had earlier too directed the poll body to frame guidelines on the matter but the poll body held just one meeting whose outcome is unknown. "Within the limited scope, we had directed the Election Commission to frame guidelines. But subsequently, they conducted only one meeting after our directions. They sought views from political parties and thereafter I do not know what happened," CJI NV Ramana, said. Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing on behalf of the petitioner said the Election Commission's current guidelines on the freebies, issued after a Supreme Court judgment in the Subramaniam Balaji case, reported in 2013, were "toothless".

The PIL cites the freebies announced by Aam Aadmi Party and Congress Party in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The choice of parties named by the BJP leader in the petition did not go unnoticed by the court. Justice Kohli remarked, “You (petitioner) have been selective in your approach (in naming parties). The CJI noted, “You have named only two in the affidavit.” In response, Mr. Upadhyay said that he did not mean to score points against specific parties and offered to make all political parties the respondents in the petition.

Examples of Freebies announced for the State Assembly elections next month

Punjab

  • Aam Aadmi Party: ₹1,000 per month to every woman aged 18, free electricity upto 300 units
  • Congress: ₹2,000 rupees per month for women homemakers, ₹5,000 to the students passing fifth grade, ₹15,000 to the ones passing 10th grade, ₹20,000 to those passing 12th grade, and a two-wheeler to girls taking admission in colleges for further studies.
  • Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD): ₹2000 to each woman

Uttar Pradesh

  • Congress: A smartphone to every girl studying in Class 12, a scooty to every girl pursuing graduation, free public transport for women, eight free gas cylinders per year to every housewife, free medical treatment up to ₹10 lakh per family.
  • Samajwadi Party: Financial assistance of ₹18,000 annually to underprivileged women and families below the poverty line (BPL)

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Jitesh Surjiani

Jitesh Surjiani

Jitesh Surjiani is passionate about progressive change for India and its citizens. He writes about issues that are roadblocks in improving quality of life and interpersonal interactions as well as areas of public governance that fall short in intent and action.

Stop the Stop the 'unethical practice' of distributing freebies using public funds: Supreme Court to EC and Centre
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