Petition in SC calls for legal repercussions for parties not following up manifesto promises

A petition filed in the Supreme Court by BJP member and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay on Saturday sought legal repercussions for political parties not following up their essential electoral promises with actions, noting that the manifesto was a 'vision document' and that parties were instead luring voters using freebies, while skipping their promised provisions.

New Delhi: A Public Interest Litigation(PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court under Article 32 seeking directions to the Election Commission of India to seize the election symbol and deregister those political parties who fail to fulfill their essential promises made in their election manifestos. "Direct and declare that Election Manifestos is a vision document, a published declaration of the intentions, motives and views of the political party and used to achieve the particular goals, if political party gets elected. Hence, it is statutory and legally enforceable," said the plea.

The plea has been filed by BJP member and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, who contends that political parties promise irrational freebies to the voters for votes but do not fulfill essential promises causing injury to the citizens at large. Citing an example of Delhi which had promised Janlokpal Bill, Swaraj Bill in 2013, 2015 and 2020 but did nothing to implement it, the petitioner contends that such things happen in all the states and the centre and state government both have failed to enact a law that would regulate the functioning of the political parties and their manifestoes.

"Petitioner submits that promises always remain as promises and most of them except the freebies are not implemented honestly. Every political party promises to improve the standard of living of people by providing corruption-free, transparent governance and good quality infrastructure - especially providing basic amenities like water, transportation and health which are expected in every democracy. However, they do nothing and focus on freebies. Rather than considering fundamental rights and directive principles and election manifesto, political parties are promising freebies from public fund to lure voters, which is a wrongful gain. With limited financial resources, promising freebies is not only immoral, unethical, and contrary to concept of welfare state, but also arbitrary irrational and violate Article 14, 162,266(3),282. Political parties are prioritising their self-interest over national interest and public fund which must be properly utilised to secure fundamental rights, is being used to lure voters," read the petition.

The petitioner sought directions to the Law ministry to regulate functioning of political parties and make them accountable for their manifestos. Further, he also sought directions to the ECI to frame guidelines to regulate the functioning of political parties and make them accountable for their manifestos' promises.