Demand from the Supreme Court – declare the promise of free schemes as bribe, this should be banned!

Abhimanoj
A hearing was held in the Supreme Court on Tuesday on old and new petitions against the promises of free schemes by political parties before any election, after which the bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra directed the Central Government and the Election Commission. Notice has been issued to.

If reports are to be believed… Freebies – Promises of free schemes, the hearing of the case was started in the year 2022 by a three-member bench led by former Chief Justice NV Ramana, which also included Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Hima Kohli, and later by former Chief Justice UU Lalit. Hearing took place and now Chief Justice DY Chandrachud is hearing the case.

The news is that… Shashank J Sridhar of Karnataka has demanded in the petition to declare the promises of free schemes made by political parties during elections as bribe, and has also demanded that the Election Commission should immediately stop such schemes.
It is also said on this issue that free schemes and promises of giving cash are corrupt practices of inducing people to vote by giving bribes under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
It has been said in the petitions that – Political parties do not tell how they will complete such free schemes, which puts an immense burden on the government exchequer, this is against the voters and the Constitution. There is fraud involved, so… Immediate and effective action should be taken to stop this.

If we believe the news… During the hearing in the court on August 11, 2024, the Election Commission had said that it is not within the jurisdiction of the Election Commission to regulate the policy adopted by political parties on free schemes.
It is a policy decision of political parties to promise freebies before the elections and give them after the elections, it is the responsibility of the Election Commission to take any action in this regard without making rules. It would amount to misuse of powers, so… Only the court should decide what are free schemes and what are not? Only after this the Election Commission will implement it!

A decision should be taken quickly in this matter, so that the continuous elections do not become a question mark on clean democracy!

Source : palpalindia
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