The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Center and the Election Commission on a petition. The petition seeks directions to declare promises of free gifts made by political parties before elections as bribes. The Supreme Court has attached this petition to the pending cases. The petitioner contends that freebies promised by political parties before elections should be banned immediately.
Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court on the issue of freebies. There are two main applications. A new application has been filed by Shashank J Sridhar from Karnataka. In 2022, BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay approached the Supreme Court with a PIL against freebies.
2 main petitions in Supreme Court…
October 2024: Petitioner Shashank J Sridhar says – free should be considered bribe Petitioner Shashank J Sridhar's counsel Balaji Srinivasan raised the matter before a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud on Monday (October 14). He said that political parties promising free schemes during assembly or general elections are considered bribes or inducements for votes under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
January 2022: BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay files a PIL BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay reached the Supreme Court with a free PIL. In his petition, Upadhyay appealed to voters to stop promises of freebies or free gifts by political parties to voters during elections. It has been demanded that the Election Commission should cancel the recognition of such parties.
What has happened in the Supreme Court so far? A three-member bench headed by former Chief Justice NV Ramana began hearing the freebies case in August 2022. The bench also had Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Hima Kohli. Later the then Chief Justice UU Lalit heard the case and now CJI DY Chandrachud is hearing the case.
The Election Commission said – you should decide the definition of free schemes yourself During a hearing in the Supreme Court on August 11, the Election Commission had said that it was not within the powers of the Election Commission to regulate the policy adopted by parties on freebies. It is a policy decision of political parties whether to promise freebies before elections or after elections. Taking any action without making rules in this regard will abuse the powers of the Election Commission. Only the court should decide what is a free scheme and what is not. After this we will implement it.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
