SC to consider hearing pleas against practice of parties promising freebies during polls

Describing the issue of political parties promising freebies during elections as ‘very important’, the Supreme Court on September 18 said it will not delete from its list of businesses pleas filed against the practice.

Describing the issue of political parties promising freebies during elections as "very important", the Supreme Court on Wednesday (September 18, 2024) said it will not delete from its list of businesses pleas filed against the practice.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was told by lawyer and PIL petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay that the pleas were already there in the list of business for the day and they needed to be heard.

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As the Bench was seized of another part-heard matter, it was quite unlikely the PILs on freebies will be taken up during the day for the hearing, he said. The lawyer also urged that the pleas be kept on board so they can be heard at a later date.

"This will not be deleted (from the cause list)," the CJI said, adding that the issues raised were "very important".

The pleas were last mentioned for urgent hearing on March 20 this year.

In his plea, Mr. Upadhyay also sought a direction to the Election Commission to invoke its powers to freeze election symbols and cancel the registration of such political parties.