The Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing petitions seeking a judicial declaration that irrational freebies offered by political parties to lure voters during election time should be considered a “corrupt practice”.
In October, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had sought responses from the States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan on a plea that public funds are being misused to offer outlandish freebies ahead of Assembly elections.
The court has made its anxiety plain about parties, which form the government riding the wave created by their pre-election promises of “free gifts”, bleeding the State finances dry by actually trying to fulfil their “wild” promises of largesse using public money.
