SC to hear pleas against electoral freebies on November 29

SC commences hearing of freebies case

The Supreme Court on November 23, deferred the hearing of  petition opposing the practice of political parties offering freebies ahead of elections to November 29.

Though the case was briefly heard today, the three judge bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud adjourned the case due to paucity of time.

On November 22, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, who appeared for the petitioner commenced the arguments and told the court that it would first determine what would constitute a freebie and what would constitute a social welfare scheme. Hansaria addressed his arguments on why the SC's two-judge bench judgment in Subramanian Balaji on the same aspect was not right. He further advanced his arguments on The Representation of People Act.

Lawyer Shadan Farasat, who appeared for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) opposed the plea and argued that the petition is 'ideologically tailored' and not filed for genuine public interest.

The top court was hearing a PIL filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, which opposes the practice of political parties promising freebies during elections and seeks the Election Commission to invoke its powers to freeze their election symbols and cancel their registration.

On August 26, 2022, the apex court placed the case before a three-judge bench and decided to review the 2013 Subramanian Balaji judgment.   "Looking into the complexities of the issues involved and the prayer to overrule the judgement rendered by a two-judge bench of this court in Subramaniam Balaji, we direct listing of the set of petitions before a three-judge bench after obtaining the orders from the Chief Justice of India," the bench said.

In the 2013 judgement, the apex court had noted that after examining and considering the parameters laid in section 123 of the Representation of People Act, it concluded that the promises in the election manifesto cannot be read into section 123 for declaring it to be a corrupt practice.