Political parties should be made accountable for the tall promises made in their manifestos, said the Chief Justice of Justice JS Khehar on Saturday.
Speaking at a function here on Economic Reforms linked to Electoral Issues, the CJI had strong views on the silence of political parties on the serious issues of linking electoral reforms with the Constitutional objective of economic and social justice of the marginalised sections of our population.
CJI Khehar in his opening speech said, “No consequence occurs whether promises are fulfilled or not. Every political party brazenly finds an excuse of not reaching consensus amongst (coalition) partners. Even our legal system provides for no consequences to be suffered by political parties if promises made in the manifesto are not fulfilled.”
While political parties used to employ manifestos as a tool to distribute freebies to poor sections of population, the Supreme Court in its judgment of July 5, 2013 had sought to impose restrictions by asking Election Commission to frame guidelines covering this aspect. The Court felt such freebies disturb the level playing field among contesting candidates and political parties, thus vitiating the free and fair spirit of electoral politics.
Four years down the line, the CJI again emphasised this fact but went a step further. With President Pranab Mukherjee in attendance, the CJI candidly stated, “Uninformed citizenry, with a short-term memory forgets and the election manifesto becomes a mere piece of paper. For this political parties have to be made accountable.”
Justice Dipak Misra, the senior-most judge of SC after the CJI, also stressed on the “purchasing power” employed during elections and reminded election candidates that “contesting elections is not an investment”. Also, the judge spoke on how elections must be held “bereft of criminalisation” and called it a “glorious day for democracy” when a voter can go to vote without being tempted or lured in any manner.