Supreme Court Pulls Up Centre, Poll Body On "Freebies", Issues Notice
NDTV
The court had earlier directed the EC to frame guidelines on the matter but the poll body held just one meeting whose outcome is unknown.
The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission regarding guidelines on "freebies" promised by political parties before elections. Calling it a "serious issue", the court said that the "freebie budget" is going beyond the regular budget. It has sought a response from the poll body and the union government in four weeks.
The CJI said that the Supreme Court, in a different issue, had directed the EC to frame guidelines on the matter but the poll body held just one meeting whose outcome is unknown.
"Within the limited scope, we had directed EC to frame guidelines. But subsequently, they conducted only one meeting after our directions. They sought views from political parties and thereafter I do not know what happened," N. V. Ramana, the Chief Justice of India, said.
A bench of CJI NV Ramana, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Hima Kohli was hearing a plea filed by lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay saying public funds were being misused by all political parties, pushing states deeper into debt. Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for the petitioner.
