Supreme Court's instructions to the Election Commission. (ANI)
Digital Desk, New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Election Commission to consider incorporating suggestions in the standard operating procedures (SOP) to curb excessive expenditure in elections. The court has asked to treat the PIL as a representation.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice NV Anjari remarked that the Court cannot rely on third party reports on excessive expenditure in elections, as even the Election Commission has refuted these reports. However, the Supreme Court said that petitioner Prabhakar Deshpande is an IIT graduate, the suggestions given by him are worth considering.
Prabhakar Deshpande had sought directions to the Election Commission to formulate an action plan against erring candidates and re-examine the limits on election expenditure to ensure democratic credibility.
Although the Election Commission defended its existing monitoring mechanisms, including the deployment of independent expenditure observers from all India services, the bench said the petitioner's complaints regarding the effectiveness of these measures were filed in the larger public interest.
"We have no reason to doubt that the petition has been filed in larger public interest. The petition seeks to frame a detailed policy from the Election Commission to curb excessive election expenditure. The petition has cited a report giving details of such expenditure," the bench said in its order.
(With inputs from news agency PTI)
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