New Delhi:In a major development, the Election Commission of India Tuesday issued a notification clarifying that it proposes to prescribe a proforma for the recognized National and State Political Parties for furnishing details of the financial implications of promises made in the election manifesto and the ways and means to finance them.
This development comes at a time when the critics, political parties and activists have been urging the poll body to look into the matter of pre-poll promises or the promises made by the political parties in their election manifesto which as critics say are impossible to implement.
It is worthy to note here that there is no such legislation that could define the term 'Freebies' and the Supreme Court has also been hearing petitions on it. Amid this, the latest notification issued by the poll watchdog wanting political parties to elaborate on the rationale for announcing such promises and the financing plan is a step that is likely to be appreciated.
"While the existing guidelines under MCC require the political parties and candidates to explain the rationale for promises made therein as well as the possible ways and means to finance such promises, the Commission found that the declarations are quite routine, ambiguous and do not provide adequate information to voters to exercise informed choice in an election," the poll body said in a statement.
"The Commission notes that the consequences of inadequate disclosures by political parties get attenuated by the fact that elections are held frequently, providing opportunities for political parties to indulge in competitive electoral promises, particularly in multi-phase elections, without having to spell out their financial implications more particularly on committed expenditure."
"These declarations are also not submitted by most of the political parties in time. While the Commission is agnostic to the nature of promises, the need to frame disclosure requirements to enable healthy debate on the financial implications of implementing those promises both in the immediate future and for the long-term fiscal sustainability is imperative for facilitating the conduct of free and fair elections," it added.
Therefore in view of keeping the elections free and fair and putting the burden of financial promises on the political parties, the poll body "proposes to supplement existing MCC guidelines and mandate political parties to inform voters at large about financial ramifications of their promises in manifesto against well-defined quantifiable parameters...".
The ECI has proposed that each state chief secretary and the Union finance secretary — whenever or wherever the elections are held — provide details of tax and expenditure in a specified format. The poll body has also sought the views of the political parties on this.
