SC agrees to hear PIL against poll freebies promises by political parties

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to list for hearing in March a PIL seeking direction to seize the symbol or deregister a political party that promises or distributes “irrational freebies” before polls.

Lawyer-petitioner Ashwini Updhyaya told a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that the notices on his PIL were issued to the Centre and the Election Commission in 2022 itself, and urged it to list the matter soon.

“Except Sun and Moon, everything is promised by political parties to voters during elections and this amounts to corrupt practice,” the lawyer said.

“This is an important issue. You please remind us and mention it at the end. We will list in March,” the CJI said.

On January 25, 2022, a bench headed by the then Chief Justice N V Ramana had sought replies from the Centre and the Election Commission on the PIL seeking direction to seize the symbol or deregister a political party that promises or distributes “irrational freebies” before polls.

The bench had termed it a “serious issue” and said sometimes “freebie budget is going beyond regular budget”.

The plea 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.

The petition filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey has, as an alternative, sought a direction to the Centre to enact a law in this regard.

“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,” said the plea.

“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 has 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".

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 (equality before law).

The plea has referred to the promises being made by certain political parties ahead of the Assembly poll in some states.

The fulcrum of democracy is the electoral process, and the distribution of money and the promise of freebies have reached alarming levels with elections being countermanded several times, it said.

“Petitioner submits that arbitrary promises of irrational freebies violate the ECI's mandate for free and fair elections and distributing private goods-services, which are not for public purposes, from public funds clearly violate Articles 14, 162, 266(3) and 282 of the Constitution,” it said.