Supreme Court
New Delhi: Hearing was held in the Supreme Court on Tuesday on the petition demanding declaring promises of freebies in elections as bribe. The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Center and the Election Commission on a petition seeking to declare the promise of giving freebies made by political parties during election campaign as bribe. The petition has also requested that the Election Commission take immediate steps to curb such promises.
Demand to give instructions to the Election Commission
The petition filed in the court said that shortly before the elections, political parties promise to provide many facilities for free. A demand has also been made to direct the Election Commission to take immediate and effective steps to stop such promises. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud issued notice to the Center and the Election Commission and also tagged the petition with pending matters.
Promise of freebies increases financial burden
The PIL, filed by Karnataka resident Shashank J Sridhar, also sought direction to the Election Commission to take immediate and effective steps to stop political parties from making free promises during the pre-poll period. The petition, filed through lawyers Vishwaditya Sharma and Balaji Srinivasan, said that the irregular promise of freebies puts incalculable financial burden on the government exchequer.
This demand has also been made in the petition
The petition sought a declaration that promises of freebies made by political parties during assembly or general elections, especially in the form of cash, should be funded from the public exchequer if their party forms the government after the elections. Will be done.
The petition states that under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, offering bribe to induce people to vote constitutes corrupt practice. It said political parties often announce such freebies without explaining how these promises will be funded.
This thing was said about the voters
The petition also states that due to lack of transparency, governments fail to fulfill such promises. This leads to fraud with voters. The petitioner said that the practice of freebies weakens the principle of free and fair elections. Where voters are influenced not by the policies or governance records of candidates, but by the attraction of immediate personal gain.
Input- ANI
Latest India News
