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- Election Freebies Case Supreme Court Update; Arvind Kejriwal | BJP Congress
8 minutes agoWriters: Neeraj Srivastava/Avinish Mishra
The petition against the free promises of political parties was heard in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. In this, there has been a demand to stop the free promises of the parties.
During the hearing, advocate Vikas Singh said that the country is in a state of bankruptcy due to free promises. On this, CJI Ramana said, “Suppose I promise that if I win the election, I will send people to Singapore. So how can the Election Commission stop this.
Ramana said that the court has raised this issue for the betterment of society and economy. The court told all the parties that all the parties, whether it is BJP or any other… are in favor of free declarations. Now it will come up for hearing on Wednesday.
Who said what during the hearing in the Supreme Court?
CJI Ramana: Kapil Sibalji we read your answer. You have returned to your old stand.
Sibal: Yes, Mahatma Gandhi once said that a wise man always improves his stand. Not that I am calling myself smart.
CJI Ramana: This is certainly an important issue. See if tomorrow some state announces a scheme and we all can benefit from it. So can it be said that this is the prerogative of the government and we cannot interfere in it. Debate is necessary on this matter. Think the center makes a law that states cannot make free announcements.
Can we say that such law cannot be reviewed by the judicial system. We are listening to this issue for the betterment of society and economy. We are not doing anything else. The Solicitor General has proposed to form a committee and now it is to be seen who will lead this committee.
Sibal: I agree that this is a serious issue, but we have to see how it is resolved.
CJI Ramana: In this case all the parties are in the same court. Remember BJP and all other parties want free announcements.
Petitioner against Rewari Culture: Everyone wants power, so everyone announces free announcements. It will someday reach such a point that the country will go bankrupt. Subramaniam Balaji’s decision in this matter is wrong and should be quashed.
CJI Ramana: So you all want that the election manifesto should be controlled and such announcements should be stopped? These announcements are made during elections. How can the Election Commission say don’t make these announcements. If all of you are talking about the announcements to be made during the elections, then the debate should also take place on this. Not on other announcements.
Before the court’s decision comes, let us know through graphics that the major parties of the country, BJP and Congress, had made promises to the people in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and what was their impact on the election results.
It is clear from both the above graphics that in 2014, where at least three such schemes were talked about by the BJP and the Congress, in which something was to be given free of cost. However, in the 2019 elections, such announcements were not made by both the parties, which could be directly included in the free schemes. Both the times the BJP won by a huge margin.
Now looking at the assembly elections of 8 states, let us try to understand how much political parties get benefit from the promise of free schemes or freebies in the states…
Uttar Pradesh: BJP talked about free gas cylinders, SP talked about free petrol and diesel
The latest assembly elections in the country have been held in Uttar Pradesh in this year i.e. 2022. In the election for a total of 403 seats, the BJP, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress all put together a flurry of free schemes. When the results came out, the BJP got 255 seats out of the total 430 seats, while the SP got 111 seats. At the same time, the Congress was reduced to just two seats.
Bihar: RJD, BJP and Congress announced free schemes, JDU stayed away from it
Elections to the Bihar assembly were held in 2021, just before Uttar Pradesh. RJD, JDU, BJP and Congress were the biggest parties in the electoral fray. In this, RJD and Congress were together, then there was an alliance of BJP and JDU. Except JDU, other parties had made promises like jobs, pension, loan waiver.
When the results came out, RJD became the single largest party with 76 out of 243 seats, while BJP came second with 75 seats. JDU got 45 seats. At the same time, Congress could win only 19 seats. However, later Nitish Kumar left the BJP and formed the government with RJD and Congress.
Madhya Pradesh: Congress promises loan waiver, BJP offers free laptops
In the 2018 elections in Madhya Pradesh, there was a contest between the BJP and the Congress. Congress promised loan waiver of farmers and also talked about giving unemployment allowance. On the other hand, BJP also included unemployment allowance in electoral schemes, but renamed it as grant. Along with this, promises like giving scooty and laptops to the students were also made.
When the election results came out, out of the total 230 seats, Congress won 114 seats, while BJP won 109 seats. Here the Congress formed the government, which fell after 15 months and the BJP government was once again formed in the state.
Rajasthan: Congress bets on farmer pension, BJP on unemployment allowance
Along with Madhya Pradesh, assembly elections were also held in Rajasthan. In this election, the emphasis of Congress was on loan waiver of farmers and pension to elderly farmers. At the same time, BJP had promised to give unemployment allowance of Rs 5 thousand to the unemployed. Along with this, 30 thousand government jobs were also talked about every year.
In the assembly of 200 seats, the Congress won 100 seats, while the BJP won 73 seats. Here the Congress formed the government by removing the BJP from power.
Chhattisgarh: Congress promises to cut electricity bill by half, BJP has given a pension of thousand rupees
The elections to the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly were also held in 2018. Here the Congress promised loan waiver for farmers and halving the electricity bill. He also talked about giving allowance to 10 lakh unemployed youth of the state. On the other hand, the BJP had talked about giving free pump connections to two lakh farmers and giving a monthly pension of one thousand rupees to the landless farmers.
In the election results, out of the total 90 seats in the state, the Congress won 63 seats, while the BJP was reduced to just 15 seats in the state. Here too the Congress formed the government by removing the BJP from power.
Now let’s look at the assembly elections of three big states other than the five states of the country’s Hindi belt, in the last assembly elections, only the parties already in power in these three states have won…
Gujarat: Talks about giving smartphones, laptops, BJP talks about cheap medicines and Mohalla clinics
Assembly elections were held in Gujarat a year before the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In this election, Congress had talked about loan waiver for farmers and halving the electricity bill. He also promised to build 20 lakh flats for poor families. Not only this, students going for higher education were also asked to give smartphones and laptops. On the other hand, the BJP, which is in power in the state, did not promise any free scheme, but did talk about opening cheap medicine shops and mohalla clinics.
When the election results came, out of the total 182 seats in the state assembly, the BJP won 99 seats, while the Congress got only 82 seats. Despite getting a tough fight from the Congress in the elections, the BJP once again formed the government in the state.
West Bengal: Trinamool gave Rs 12 thousand to SC-ST women. Said to give, BJP gave 6 thousand to fishermen
Assembly elections were held in West Bengal in 2021. Here Mamta Banerjee’s party Trinamool Congress talked about giving 10 thousand rupees annually to the farmers. At the same time, he also promised to give 12 thousand rupees annually to SC-ST women and 6 thousand rupees annually to OBC women. Here, BJP announced to give 6 thousand rupees annually to the fishermen. At the same time, 33% reservation for women and widow pension of Rs 3 thousand was also promised.
When the election results came out, out of the total 294 seats in the state, the Trinamool Congress won 215 seats. At the same time, BJP got 77 seats. After this, the Trinamool Congress government was once again formed in Bengal under the leadership of Mamta Banerjee.
Odisha: BJD promises 12 thousand per month to the landless, BJP gives scooty to girls
Assembly elections were held in Odisha in 2019. In this election, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had promised to give 12 thousand rupees every month to the landless farmers of the state. Along with this, it was also said to give 10 thousand rupees to the farmers. He also promised to provide free Wi-Fi in all schools and colleges of the state. Here, the BJP had talked about giving scooty to the girl students who passed 12th and giving a pension of three thousand rupees to the farmers every month.
When the election results came out, out of the total 147 seats in the state, BJD won 112 seats, while BJP got 23 seats. Here the BJD, which was in power in the state, once again formed the government under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik.