TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
NEW DELHI: Political parties and candidates will no longer be able to make all sorts of promises, including freebies, in the elections. They will have to not only give rationale for them but also elaborate the financial means for their implementation.
The Election Commission seeks to curb such promises by bringing them under its Model Code of Conduct, in deference to a Supreme Court judgment last July 5, directing it to frame guidelines on contents of the election manifestos.
In an attempt to enforce these curbs in the coming Lok Sabha elections, it has asked all six national and 47 regional parties to hurry with their comments by February 7 on a 3-point draft guidelines it has readied on the basis of a consultation with the political parties in August to incorporate them as part of the Model Code.
Citing the interest of transparency, level-playing field and credibility of promises, one of the guidelines require the manifestos to “reflect the rationale for the promises and the way and means to meet their financial requirements.” It stresses that “trust of voters should be sought only on those promises which are possible to be fulfilled.”
The two other proposed guidelines on the manifestos are:
~ Avoid promises that are likely to vitiate the purity of the election process or exert undue influence on the voters, though no objection to the promises of welfare measures as Directive Principles enshrined in the Constitution enjoin upon the State to frame such measures; and
~ Contain nothing repugnant to the ideals and principle enshrined in the Constitution, and be consistent with the letter and spirit of other provisions of the Model Code of Conduct.
The guidelines are proposed to be incorporated in the model code that so far comes into force only from the date of announcement of elections but it will also cover the
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manifestos issued before that date.
It has cited the Supreme Court verdict in this regard that says the Election Commission, strictly speaking, have no authority to regulate any act done before the announcement of the poll dates but “an exception can be made in this regard as the purpose of election manifesto is directly associated with the election process.”
The Model Code is not under any law, but the Election Commission has framed it under the inherent powers to it under Article 324 of the Constitution that mandates it to hold free and fair elections ~ the powers which were also upheld by the Supreme Court in the July 5 judgment citing the Article.
The court had held in that judgment that “although the law is obvious that the promises in the election manifesto cannot be construed as ‘corrupt practice’ under Section 123 of the Representation of People Act, the reality cannot be ruled out that distribution of freebies of any kind, undoubtedly, influences all people as it shakes the root of free and fair election to a large degree.” The court wanted guidelines framed by the Election Commission as it had been issuing instructions in the past under the Model Code “to see that the purity of the election process does not get vitiated.”
Only last August, a Parliamentary standing committee headed by Goa’s Congress MP Shantaram Naik had flayed the Election Commission for assuming Parliament’s powers to frame the laws and issuing orders and enforcing the Model Code “having no force of any law.”
The committee had wanted Parliament enact a law to give statutory backing to the Model Code, “leaving no vacuum for ECI to exercise its power which is residuary in nature.” It suggested that the code may be made part of the Representation of People Act under which the elections are conducted.
WHAT ELECTION COMMISSION WANTS…
lManifestos should reflect the rationale for the promises and the way and means to meet their financial requirements; trust of voters should be sought only on those promises which are possible to be fulfilled
l Promises that are likely to vitiate the purity of election process or exert undue influence on voters should be avoided
l Manifestos should contain nothing repugnant to the ideals and principle enshrined in the Constitution and be consistent with letter and spirit of other provisions of Model Code
