Former Judge moves HC over monetary support schemes by political parties ahead of Delhi assembly polls

A former judge , Justice (retired) SN Dhingra has moved the High Court to file a public interest litigation (PIL) against the ‘corrupt practices’ of the major political parties ahead of Delhi assembly elections.

In the PIL, he has sought directions to the Election Commission of India to frame rules for political parties over promises linked to monetary benefit schemes, to conduct an inquiry into “corrupt practices and illegal data collection”, and to strengthen monitoring mechanisms to prevent violation of electoral laws.

He has also urged HC to direct three national parties to “cease and desist from collecting personal and electoral data of voters under false pretence” and that they are directed to not share and use the data collected during elections to any third party.

The collection of voters’ data “and possible misuse without their explicit consent is a violation of their fundamental right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” Dhingra stated in the PIL.

In the PIL before the HC, he also highlighted that the AAP, under its scheme of Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, has promised Rs 2,100 as direct bank transfers each month to female voters of Delhi even as the Delhi government’s Department of Women and Child Development has denied such a scheme, and in competing with the same, other parties too have promised similar sops.

Noting that there are around 71.73 lakh female voters in Delhi, the PIL states, “The proposed distribution of Rs 2,100 per month to female voters as promised by respondent parties would result in a financial burden of more than Rs 18,000 crore per annum. This constitutes over 23 per cent of the State of Delhi’s total annual budget, which is Rs 76,000 crore approximately for one fiscal year… such promises in place of vote-seeking constitute corrupt practices under Section 123(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, as this seeks to unduly influence voters and amount to bribing the voters. Furthermore, the distribution of guarantee cards amounts to unauthorised election-related materials violates Section 127A of the Act.”