Independent India’s primary instrument to ensure a thriving democracy is regular, free and fair elections; these elections determine the composition of government, the membership of the two Houses of Parliament, the State and Union Territory Legislative Assemblies, and the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the largest democracy on earth. The elections in India are conducted according to the constitutional provisions, and the whole process is controlled, directed and supervised by the Elections commission of India. It has administrative powers to register and deregister any political party at will, advisory power to advise The President, The Supreme Court and The High Court of India, Quasi-Judicial powers to act as a court for the matters related to symbols of political parties. Among those powers one is regulating the conduct of political parties during elections. Before the general elections in India the Commission issues guidelines for the manifestos of the national parties in coherence with the Model Code of Conduct.
Election manifestos declare the intentions and the ideology of the political party along with the policies the party aims to implement once it gains a majority. The document’s significance may be observed in the fact that the general public compares party manifestos in order to vote for the party whose aims correspond with the people’s overall interests. They also declare programs aimed for the benefit of people which includes education, employment, healthcare, old age pensions, compensations to farmers, safe drinking water etc., for example in the field of employment, The Congress Party in their 2024 manifesto has promised to provide 50% reservations in employment for SC, ST and OBC likewise The Bharatiya Janata Party has promised implement the Citizenship Amendment Act. However, in recent years there seems to be a new trend in the domain of elections when parties promise to give such services or items for free, targeting the weaker sections of the society, in order to secure votes in their favour; such promises are referred to as ‘Freebies’.
In the light of recent post-election results women from the Muslim community were seen demanding their ‘Guarantee Card’ in line with the Congress party’s manifesto promise to provide Rs 1 lakh in the bank accounts of women belonging to SC, ST, and backward categories. Winning by the majority in Uttar Pradesh the women now demand their promises.
The general elections of 2024 was an era of promises and ‘guarantees’ like no other, each party’s manifesto was packed with freebies. The problem arises when a party promises desire-based freebies in the name of ‘Welfare’. People will always have wants and desires, which are fueled by promises of free electricity, free bus rides, free monies, not only the heavy financial burden from such promises of irrational freebies is bore by the federal exchequer but also the level playing field is disrupted, the integrity of election process is impaired and the directive of free and fair elections is dishonoured.
The cost of such schemes is eventually borne by the voter in the form of higher taxes. At a time like this, where a person’s entire three month’s salary is deducted as tax, would it be such a smart idea to distribute free items? The fiscal impact of such promises becomes evident only after the full implementation of schemes, as can be seen in Karnataka where SBI Ecowrap on the Arithmetic of the Karnataka Budget estimated, in order to fulfil the 5-poll promises a figure of roughly Rs 60,000 crore annually would be required, which is 1.5% of GSDP and 15% of revenue receipts of the state. Now this ‘rough figure of Rs. 60,000 crores’ will be taken out of the pockets of a common man, upon which the government has already started to act, by increasing the sales tax on fuel by Rs. 3 in Karnataka.
Such promises are made in the name of ‘public good’ but do such claims stand when tested by a dose of reality? take the AAP’s generous electricity subsidies serving free and subsidised electricity to all of Delhi regardless of their income level. These subsidiaries serve over 80% of homes in Delhi, most of which are high-income households having the capacity to fully afford electricity and still do not spend a rupee on it. This encourages the problem of free-riding, where the privileged get greater benefit than the actually in need by free riding on the state government’s resources. In Delhi the lower consumers of electricity (less than 100 units) are the poor, who only get a subsidy of Rs 1,000 annually, while the highest consumers of electricity (300-400 units) get a subsidy of Rs. 9000 annually. The amount of subsidies increase with the increase in consumption of electricity, where the poorest get about 33% net subsidy the rich get about 40% thus leading to creation of a larger divide between the rich and the poor. The money which could have been used for public good instead goes into the pockets of those who clearly have ample of it. Such spending reduces the investment towards infrastructure development projects which are responsible for generating both jobs and revenue for the state. Use of public funds to build infrastructure facilitates economy activity and is responsible for generating real income, thereby benefiting the public at large, directly giving money in the hands of people defeats the purpose of Article 39 of the Indian Constitution which directs the state to ensure equitable distribution of material resources of the community for the common good but huge spending on providing such freebies outweighs any public good.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar stated that “Political parties in India have a right to make promises in their manifestos”, but is this right subject to any limitations? As envisaged in the Model code of conduct declared by the election commission this right is subjected to restriction especially so as not to interfere with the conduct of free and fair elections. The constitution of India under Article 324 empowers the Election Commission to conduct free and fair elections. However, the question that needs to be answered here is, Does the promise to distribute freebies puts a question mark on free and fair elections? To which the Supreme Court has ruled in S. Subramaniam Balaji Vs Govt. of Tamil Nadu “Although, the law is obvious that the promises in the election manifesto cannot be construed as ‘corrupt practice’ under Section 123 of RP Act, the reality cannot be ruled out that distribution of freebies of any kind, undoubtedly, influences all people. It shakes the root of free and fair elections to a large degree”.
Now the issue lies in the fact that the model code of conduct are simply the guidelines needed to be adhered to by the political parties but do these guidelines have any enforceability? The MCC was borne out of political consensus, it lacked any statutory authority but the violations incurred were addressed by the election commission. MCC isn’t enforceable in court but that’s what saves it from lengthy litigation and allows EC to take swift and effective measures. Measures such as in the case of 2012 Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand, after cash was found to have been used for possible vote-buying, the EC used its authority given by Article 324 to countermand the election, the decision was upheld by the Jharkhand High Court.
Although MCC holds the reigns of political parties yet the EC does not have any authority to prohibit electoral freebies as held by the Supreme Court in the case of Indian National Congress v. Institute of Social Welfare 2002 the EC has no power to cancel registration of a political party except on three grounds which do not include electoral freebies. But this poses a question: if the EC doesn’t have the power, will the political parties go unchecked? Is there any limit on the amount of freebies a party can give away? Is there no end to the extent of inducement of voters and no extent to the disruption of free and fair elections? In the most populated country freebies impede the overall nation’s development, distribution of private goods from public funds to induce a certain segment of voters is against Article 14. Freebies do not arise out of demands but desires, to promise a dole for the unemployed kills the purpose of working for a living. While the writ petition regarding this matter is “sub judice” in the Supreme Court therefore awaiting judicial consideration, for now it would be foolish to expect a law on restriction of such promises. Why would any ruling party devise such a law which would hamper their chances of obtaining a majority? they are not so innocent when it comes to promising freebies. They won’t bite the hand which feeds them.
The first step towards finding the real solution of the freebie culture in India starts by establishing a clear boundary of the term “freebie”. The problem with freebies is that it cannot be curbed if the term lacks proper definition, what one man views as a freebie may be viewed by another as welfare. There has to be a defined set of terms which can be included into ‘welfare’, therefore limiting the political parties on promising anything they like under the guise of ‘welfare’ putting a strain on the public exchequer. After limiting the scope of freebies, a penalizing authority ought to be put at work. The Indian Constitution under Article 324 empowers the Election Commission to act as a watchdog of free and fair elections, however the hands of the election commission are tied when it comes to punishing the political parties who promise irrational freebies. To address such cases, the commission ought to be granted more authority to impart and enforce harsher punishment such as deregistering the political party or using the power of contempt. Finally, the main issue is the mindset of those who participate in an election, the general populace will forever have wants and the political parties will forever want votes, the cycle of promises cannot be broken; instead, the focus should be shifted from use of public funds for vote buying to using those funds to implement sustainable programs that actually provide real ‘welfare’ to those in need.
