Writ petition was filed by Jana Sena leader, Pentapati Pulla Rao, through his Advocate Sravan Kumar in the Apex Court. The plea stated that the announcement schemes involving direct cash transfer two days before the day of polling is violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
The plea was heard by the Chief Justice Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, along with Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Aniruddha Bose.
The plea has also sought a direction to the Election Commission to fix a minimum time, preferably 6 months before the announcement of election schedule, for political parties in power to implement schemes such as Direct Cash Transfer and welfare schemes which may impact free and fair elections and may lead to malpractice.
The petitioner contended that the announcement of schemes like Centre's PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, Mukhya Mantri Krishi Yojana etc involve direct cash transfer and violates Article 112 and 202 of the Constitution.
Therefore, the top Court has issued notices to the Centre, a few State Governments and the Election Commission seeking its response on the money transfers made by the various governments ahead of the general elections.
Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!"
