07 July 2013

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SC orders Election Commission to frame guidelines for election manifesto not a corruption bribe

SC orders Election Commission to frame guidelines for election manifesto not a corruption bribe

Once again, Supreme Court of India has directed Indian Politicians to give a good law to Indian citizens.

Remember Indian politicians also indirectly control election commission.

Advocate S Subramaniam filed a petition in court and had challenged the distribution of freebies, like TV, mixers and grinders, fans, laptops, cattle and sheep, by the current AIADMK and previous DMK government as per their promises in their manifestos.

He contended this amounted to "electoral bribe" under Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act and there was no public purpose involved in these schemes that ate away from public exchequer.

The petitioner had contended that freebies offered by the Tamil Nadu government amounted to bribing the voters and ran counter to the constitutional mandate of free and fair elections.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi said following

1-  
though the election manifesto is published before the code of conduct comes into force, the Commission can make an exception by bringing its within code of conduct

2-  
There is no guideline for regulating the contents of election manifesto.

3-  
We direct the Election Commission to frame guidelines on it We direct election commission to take up the task (of framing guidelines) immediately

4-  
Court said that freebies promised by political parties disturb the level playing field among players contesting the polls and vitiates the election process.

5-  
Court said that under the present law, promises of freebies made in the manifesto do not amount to corrupt practices

6-  
The Supreme Court asked Parliament to frame a new law to regulate political parties in the country, as it held that although freebies promised by parties in election manifestos vitiated the electoral process, the law as it stands today could not indict them for corrupt practices court also said that separate legislation should be made on this issue.

Once again, this proves that India needs to bring reforms and change Indian laws.

Promising something to voter in Election is nothing but open bribe given to the voter, it is a corrupt practice

Elections should be fought on bringing new rules and laws and reforms and not on the how much political party will give to voter if it wins.

Elections are due in next year

Do you think Election commission of India should work hard and bring the guidelines in next 1 month or 2 months.

Suggested Reading -

26 Election Reforms Required for India to make India corruption free India


Reality views by sm –

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Tags – Election Manifesto Promise Bribe

8 comments:

MEcoy July 07, 2013  

still a lot of election issues huh

DWei July 07, 2013  

I hope that things work out better this year then.

Destination Infinity July 07, 2013  

Yes, preventing such practices may not be legal currently, but it clearly amounts to bribing the public. Hence, a law must be framed to prevent such electoral malpractices. But I am not sure if the people deserve such a law as they seem to happily accept whatever freebies are given to them.

Destination Infinity

rudraprayaga July 08, 2013  

Power blinds the politicians, they may go to any extent for chair.