Plea in HC claims discrimination towards Independents regarding poll expenses

A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking directions to strike down a provision of law that allegedly distinguishes between a poll candidate of a political party and an Independent with regard to expenses allowed to be incurred during campaigning.

The petition, filed by lawyer Amit Sahni, claimed that according to section 77 (account of election expenses and maximum thereof) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, there was no limit on the campaign expenditure for the candidates of political parties, while there was no such benefit for an Independent nominee.

It sought a direction to declare as "ultra vires" (beyond one's legal powers or authority) the said section, which provides that the expenditure incurred by the leaders of political parties, while campaigning for a candidate, shall not be considered as the expenditure of such a nominee.

 

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar is likely to hear the petition tomorrow.

The petition alleged that the provision was "arbitrary" as it distinguished between a person contesting elections from a political party and an Independent, thus, denying the latter a level-playing field.

"The Election Commission of India cannot pass any order setting aside the infirmity created by section 77 of the RP Act, 1951, as the Act itself created the said inequality by giving an edge to political parties over Independent candidates," it said.

The petition has made the Centre, through the Ministry of Law and Justice, and the Election Commission parties to it, saying they had a constitutional obligation to protect such rights of the citizens.

The object of the RP Act was to curb the illegal practice of spending money during polls and not to give an advantage to political parties over those not affiliated to any outfit, the petition said.

It claimed that the political parties spent huge amounts of money on organising rallies and advertisements and did not calculate such expenses in a candidate's campaign expenditure.

"It is an open secret that these political parties' and their candidates' expenses are more and much beyond the ceiling limit for expenditure (prescribed in the Act) under the garb of the said section. The Independent candidates are not provided a level-playing field in elections," the petition said.