The Election Commission of India has declined to be the part of the expert body proposed to be constituted by the Supreme Court to examine the issues relating to the promise of "freebies" by political parties during elections.
in its affidavit, the EC states " it may not be appropriate for the Commission, being the Constitutional Authority to offer to be part of the Expert Committee especially if there are Ministries or Government Bodies in the expert body. "
On July 26, the Court had termed freebies a "serious issue" and asked the Central Government to take a clear stand on the issue. The Court had also expressed reservations with respect to the ECI stand that offering freebies is a policy decision of a party and that the Commission cannot regulate state policies and decisions which may be taken by the winning party when they form the government.
In the supplementary affidavit filed by Mr Vijay Kumar Pandey, Director, Election Commission of India, "The oral observations made by this Court against the Election Commission during the previous hearing in the matter and which dame to be widely reported in the media has caused irreparable damage to the reputation of this institution build over the years. The reputational damage of this magnitude does not augur well for the country which is relatively younger but the largest and stable democracy in the world," the affidavit stated.
SC forming panel to examine issue of freebies by political parties is ‘burial by committee’: Experts Ashlin Mathew 04 Aug 2022,
https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/sc-forming-panel-to-examine-issue-of-freebies-by-political-parties-is-burial-by-committee-experts “The question before SC and committee is, what will be the effect of these freebies on elections. How is the committee going to answer that question?” senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan wonderedMost senior law experts and advocates believe that the Supreme Court’s decision to form a committee to look into the issue of freebies by political parties is, in effect, ‘burial by committee’...
Indian Civil Liberties Union (ICLU) founder and Supreme Court lawyer Anas Tanwir asserted that if the Supreme Court is concerned with electoral reforms, the first step would be to take up the Electoral Bonds case pending before it since 2019.
“The issue of Electoral Bonds affects free and fair elections far more than freebies can ever do.
Comment on whatapps: Bhaskar It is fair to be suspicious of a government that is suspicious of its people. The issue here is if it is election freebie, or governance freebie. Election freebie should be stopped. If governance freebie is stopped, why do we need governance? To say that one should not announce election freebies is to curb freedom of speech. To say that these freebies should not be delivered after is to curb freedom of action. To form an organisation of taxpayers to decide... but how? Poll everytime? So all taxpayers will be everyday voters? And rig elections everyday instead of once in 5 years?