Noting that poll promises routinely remain unfulfilled, Chief Justice of India JS Khehar on Saturday said that political parties must be held accountable for what they say in their election manifestos.
“Nowadays, manifestos have become a mere piece of paper. For this, political parties have to be made accountable,” CJI Khehar said, addressing a seminar on electoral reforms in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee.
Justice Khehar said manifestos remain pieces of paper due to short-term memory of citizens but political parties must be held accountable. He lamented that politicians gave brazen excuses like lack of consensus to justify non-fulfilment of poll promises.
The seminar, ‘Economic Reforms with Reference to Electoral issues’, was organised by the Confederation of the Indian Bar.
The CJI’s comments come almost four years after it directed the Election Commission to frame guidelines on freebies in consultation with all recognised political parties as there was no law directly governing the contents of manifestos. “Freebies shake the root of free and fair elections to a large degree,” the top court had said in its July 2013 verdict.
Justice Khehar said after the court’s directions to the Election Commission to formulate guidelines on freebies, the Commission had been taking action against parties for violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
He, however, pointed out that during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, none of the manifestos indicated any link between electoral reforms and Constitutional goal of ensuring economic-social justice to the marginalised section.
