Supreme Court To Hear PIL Against Election Freebies Tomorrow, Here's What Plea Says

Acknowledging that it is "important", a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra listed the hearing of PIL against election freebies on Thursday (21 March).

The PIL is filed by Ashwini Upadhyay, who through his lawyer Vijay Hansaria sought the hearing of the plea before Lok Sabha elections, which are set to start on 19 April and will be conducted in seven phases.

The plea wants the Election Commission should use its powers by taking action against those political parties who promise freebies by freezing their election symbols and canceling their registration.

Asking for a total ban, the plea mentions that through populist measures, the political parties are able to gain undue political favour from voters which poses "threat to the survival of democratic values."

Expressing concern that irrational freebie promises disturb the level playing field and vitiate the sanctity of the election process, plea says that it "injures the spirit of the Constitution."

"This unethical practice is just like giving bribes to the electorate at the cost of the exchequer to stay in power and must be avoided to preserve democratic principles and practices," it said.

The plea wants a clause to be added to recognition conditions that "political party shall not promise/distribute irrational freebies from the public fund before the election".

The petition also argues that promising freebies before elections violates several articles of the Constitution, including Article 14. Article 14 talks about equality before law.