Irrational Freebies

In January advocate Ashwini Upadhyay filed a petition in The Supreme Court (SC) stating that the Election Commission of India (ECI) should bar the state and national political parties from giving freebies. He further added that the ECI should add additional conditions to recognize the political parties at the state and national levels. There should be a reasonable promise when the total debt of the States is nearing Rs 70 lac Crore.

This petition had urged the SC to declare that;

• The promise of irrational freebies from the public funds before an election unduly influences voters, disturbs the level playing field, shakes the roots of free-fair elections, and loss of the purity of the election process.
• Promise/distribution of private goods/services, which are not for public purposes, from public funds violates the Constitution of India.
• Promise/distribution of irrational freebies from the public fund before the election to lure voters is a form of bribery and is a criminal offence.

For recent  elections in the states of Punjab and UP, the petition cited the following example:

1 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) promised Rs 1000 per month to every woman above 18 years of age.

2 Shrimoni Akali Dal (SAD) promised Rs 2000 per month to each woman.

3 After this the Congress party not only promised Rs 2000 per month and 8 gas cylinders per year to every housewife but also promised scooty to average college going girl after passing 12^th class, Rs 15,000 after passing 10^th class, Rs 10,000 after passing 8^th class, and Rs 5000 after passing 5^th.

4 For UP elections, Congress promised a smartphone to every girl studying 12^th class, a scooty for every girl pursuing graduation, free public transport for women, 8 free gas cylinders per year to every housewife, free medical treatment up to Rs 10 lac per family.

The above mentioned are some examples of freebies announced by political parties before elections. Similar kind of freebies is announced in every state election.

The petitioner has also prayed for directions to ECI to insert additional conditions in Election Symbols Order, mandating that “ political party shall not promise/distribute irrational freebies from the public fund before elections.

In reply, the ECI filed an affidavit that it has no power to de-register political parties that promise freebies to voters before and after elections. The EC also stated that giving out freebies using public funds before the election is a policy decision of the apolitical party. In this light, it was the FCI’s stance that it can not regulate state policies and decisions which may be taken by the winning party when they form the government. Indirectly the FCI washed their hands from this issue.

Now, yesterday the bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana (CJI), and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, asked the Central government to take a stand on the need to control the announcement of freebies by political parties during the election campaigns. The bench asked why the Centre is hesitating to take a stand on this issue?

The bench issued the directions after consulting with senior advocates present in the court and said that “ It is a serious issue but difficult to control politically. The Finance Commission when it does allocation to various States can take into account the debt of the State and the quantum of freebies. Finance Commission is the appropriate authority to deal with it. Maybe we can invite the commission to look into this aspect. The Centre can not be expected to issue directions”.

CJI asked Assistant Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Central government, to take instructions as to whether Finance Commission could be roped in for suggesting solutions to stop the distribution of freebies. You find out who is the authority where we can initiate debate or something. We direct the Central Government to give instructions on this matter.

In this issue classic example is the State of Punjab, where AAP is ruling. AAP had announced enough freebies before the elections, and even after forming the government. At the time of filing this petition, the State was in debt of Rs 3 lac crore. The entire population of Punjab is 3 crore. Did AAP look into the State’s debt before announcing the freebies or they were expecting the Central Government to bail them out when they have a shortfall in budgetary expenses or for the day-to-day expenses for running the government?

If you look into reality all States are under debt, and the total debt of all States stands at Rs 70 lac crore. Even a State ruled by BJP, Karnataka has a debt of over Rs 6 lac crore. Therefore it is the right time to have some solution to this issue, otherwise, we may be heading towards a situation like what is happening in Sri Lanka.

Let us wait for further news on this issue. The SC has fixed the date of 3^rd August 2022, for the next hearing.

Waiting for your views on this matter.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

27^th July 2022