By Nimisha Sharma | On Thu 11 Aug 2022
Photo credit: News18
Supreme court: Distribution of freebies by political parties is “a serious issue”.
What is the meaning of Freebies ??
The word freebies means something which is given at free of cost or can be termed as a gift.
Delhi : On Thursday Supreme court remarked that ‘freebies’ at the time of election season, the political parties lure voters and it is causing a big loss to the economy.
Highlights :
- Today SC issued a strong statement on the culture of freebies.
- Economy is losing a Bing money due to freebies.
- Court said we need to check the ‘rewari’ culture.
- It should be stopped.
Photo credit: Peakpx
The Supreme Court decided to rule out the possibility of giving consideration to plead for derecognising parties for making promises to give freebies. While asking stakeholders to give their opinions on this topic before August 17, Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Krishna Murari said the idea of de-recognise political parties for making promises to give irrational freebies during the polls was “undemocratic”.
“Freebies and the social welfare scheme are different… Economy losing the money and the welfare of people, both have to be balanced and that is why this debate. There must be someone who can put their vision and thoughts. Please submit something before my retirement,” the CJI said.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Aam Aadmi Party, opposed the PIL saying there is confusion between giving freebies and welfare schemes, and this word freebies is used in the very wrong manner.
The CJI had also sought opinion of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was present in court for some other matter, on freebies by political parties.
“It’s a serious issue but difficult to control politically. The Finance Commission when it does allocation to various states, they 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 cannot be expected to issue directions,” Sibal had said.
The ECI had told the apex court that it was held in previous judgments that a manifesto was part of the promises of a political party and suggested that the Central government could bring in a law to deal with the issue.
The petition stated that unfortunately, freebies are not connected with job creation, development, or agriculture and voters are lured to cast votes in their favour by magical promises.
It has become fashion for the political parties to announce free electricity in their election manifesto though State has not been able to provide electricity for more than 16 hours and a large population doesn’t even have access to electricity which has been recognized as a fundamental right, the petition added.
