Can't prevent political parties from making promises: SC on freebies

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it can't prevent political parties from making promises to the electorate and it has to be deliberated whether providing universal healthcare, access to drinking water and access to consumer electronics can be treated as giving freebies.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices J K Maheshwari and Hima Kohli said there are certain schemes which were rights of the citizens and in fact gave them the dignity of life.

The top court also noted the issue was getting "increasingly complicated" and the question was what constituted right promises.

Read | Freebies: A matter between parties and voters

"We cannot prevent political parties from making promises. The question is what is right promises and qualify as freebie. Can we describe promise of free education, some essential units of power as freebies? There has to be debate and discussion," the bench said.

Taking up a PIL filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the bench said the court has to consider what really constituted a 'freebie'.

The petitioner sought a direction to ban freebies offered by political parties in their election manifestos or de-register such political parties.

"One of the suggestions is that state political parties cannot be prevented from making promises to the electorate. Now, it has to be defined what is freebie. Can universal healthcare, access to drinking water, access to consumer electronics be treated as freebie," the bench asked.

Read | Explained: What is the freebies debate?

The CJI also cited the scheme like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which provided employment to villagers.

"There are schemes are MNREGA which gives dignity of living. I don't think promises alone are not the basis of parties being elected solely. Some makes promises and even then they are not elected. All of you give your opinions and then after debate only we can come to a conclusion," the CJI said.

The court fixed the matter for further consideration on August 22.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi appeared for Aam Aadmi Party, which opposed the plea by Upadhyay.

DMK led by senior advocate P Wilson opposed the suggestion for setting up an expert panel to examine the matter. "India is a socialist welfare state. There have to be welfare measures. We are opposed to setting up a committee," he said.

A Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Jaya Thakur also filed a plea opposing the PIL.

The Union government has supported the PIL.