SC issues notice to Centre, ECI on plea to declare freebies as bribe

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre and Election Commission of India on a plea seeking direction that promise of freebies, made by political parties during the run-up to elections, be declared as bribes.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud issued notice to the Centre and poll panel and also tagged the petition along with pending cases.
The petition filed by Shashank J Shreedhara, a Karnataka resident, also sought direction to poll panel to take immediate and effective steps to prohibit political parties from making promises of freebies during the pre-election period.
The petition filed through advocates Vishwaditya Sharma and Balaji Srinivasan stated that unregulated promise of freebies imposes a significant and unaccounted financial burden on the public exchequer.
Further, there exists no mechanism to ensure the fulfillment of pre-poll promises on which votes were secured, it added.
"The petition is seeking declaration that the promise of freebies, particularly in the form of cash, made by political parties during the run-up to Assembly or General elections, to be funded from the public exchequer post-election if their party forms the government, constitutes a corrupt practice of inducement to vote by way of offering bribe under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 attributable to the candidates of such political party," the petition stated.
It said that political parties often announce such freebies without disclosing how these promises will be funded.
"This lack of transparency leads to either a failure to fulfill such promises, thereby committing fraud on the electorate, or in the introduction of populist schemes aimed at garnering future votes, which imposes an undue and disproportionate burden on public funds, thereby committing fraud on the Constitution," the petition stated.
The petitioner said that practice of freebies "undermines the principle of free and fair elections by creating an uneven playing field", where voters are influenced not by the policies or governance record of the candidates, but by the allure of immediate personal benefits.
This reduces the electoral process to a transactional exercise, where votes are essentially purchased through promises of future rewards, said the petition.
"Despite the growing menace of pre-poll promises of freebies, the Election Commission of India, as the custodian of free and fair elections, has failed to take adequate steps to curb this practice. The Election Commission has a constitutional duty to ensure that the electoral process is not vitiated by unethical practices and that elections are conducted in a manner that upholds the integrity of democracy," it added.