The Allahabad High Court has said in one of its orders that the courts cannot enforce the election manifesto of political parties. The court observed that there is no penal provision under any law for political parties for failing to fulfill the promises made in the manifesto. Manifesto is merely a statement regarding their policy and promises during elections and it is not binding in any way.
Justice Dinesh Pathak gave this decision while hearing the petition of Khurshidur Rahman. The petition had sought registration of a case against the then BJP president Amit Shah for failing to fulfill the promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Earlier this petition was rejected by the lower courts.
It was said in the petition that the BJP had made a flurry of false promises to woo the voters. All this mess was done under the supervision of Amit Shah. People believed in him and voted for BJP. But when the government was formed after winning, they failed to fulfill the promises made in the election manifesto-2014, so action should be taken against them by registering a case under various sections of the IPC.
The High Court clarified that the entire political party cannot be made liable under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 for adopting corrupt practices in elections. The court said that after going through the decisions of the lower courts, it cannot be said that they have decided the case in a hurry. The absence of a cognizable offense is the major reason for his decision.
It is worth mentioning that during the 2014 elections, various BJP leaders, making black money an election issue, had promised that after bringing back all the money deposited in foreign banks, Rs 15 lakh each would be deposited in the accounts of the people. After the formation of the government, Amit Shah had shied away from it and said that it was only an election gimmick. The petitioner was hurt by the promise BJP had made to the people to get votes.