Supreme Court Asks ECI To Consider Formulation Of Plan of Action To Curb Excess Election Expenditure

The Supreme Court has asked the Election Commission of India to consider suggestions for the formulation of a comprehensive plan of action to curb excess election expenditure.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by a chemical engineer and IIT Bombay alumnus, seeking a structural overhaul of election financing. The petitioner called for a comprehensive plan of action to curb excess election expenditure, arguing that the current "money power" in politics creates a massive "hiatus" between legal limits and ground reality.

The Court, treating the PIL as a constructive intervention, directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider the petitioner’s suggestions as a roadmap for future democratic reforms.

The Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice NV Anjaria ordered, "While it is not necessary for us to express any opinion with respect to the report unless it has been submitted by Central for Media Studies...At the same time, independent of the above cited report, the petitioner, in his capacity as a public speaking person has given certain suggestions. We find that all such suggestions are worth consideration by the various committees constituted by the ECI for the purpose of preventing malpractices during the election process. We thus deem it appropriate that to dispose of this Petition with liberty to the Petitioner to forward, with the direction to the Election Commission to circulate the suggestions given by the Petitioner amongst members of the various committees constituted by it...If such committees find any of the suggestions given by the petitioner worthy of reliance on the pursuit of the responsibilities assigned to them, they may include this in their SOP. The Petitioner is also at liberty to submit further representation in this regard if he has any valuable suggestions worth consideration of the ECI."

Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu appeared for the Election Commission of India.

"Through this petition, the direction is being sought to the Election Commission of India to formulate a comprehensive plan of action to curb excess election expenditure, and in the event such policy is defied or violated, the Election Commission should take stringent and effective action against the erring candidates as well as the political parties", the Court dictated.

During the proceedings, a primary concern raised was the staggering disparity between statutory caps and actual costs. The petitioner pointed out that in recent parliamentary elections, actual spending was reportedly 60 to 100 times higher than the legally permitted limits.

The Court acknowledged this "hiatus," noting that while expenditure gaps are strictly "kept" on paper for Assembly and Parliamentary seats, the enforcement mechanisms face significant challenges. The Bench emphasized that the "cleansing" of this system is a shared goal, stressing that the integrity of the democratic process depends on a level playing field.

A further direction has been sought from the Election Commission of India to earnestly examine the gap in election expenditures to bring credibility to our democratic reforms. The petitioner in this regard relies upon a report said to have been submitted by the Central for Media Studies, Delhi, highlighting the total expenditure incurred in one of the parliamentary elections. 

"The Election Commission has not taken timely, prompt and effective action as may be required to prevent electoral malpractices and excessive spending", the Petitioner submitted.

The Election Commission of India has also filed its counter affidavit inter alia, pursuing the authenticity of the report, stating that a robust mechanism for election expenditure monitoring during elections is already in place.

The Court recorded, "In this regard, the ECI has explained that expenditure observers and assistant expenditure observers are deployed; media surveillance teams and video wing teams are engaged. Similarly, accounting teams, besides complaint monitoring and call centres are also established. There is a separate media certification and monitoring committee, along with flying squads and State surveillance teams that are essentially assigned the responsibility of causing the malpractices during election time. The ECI has further highlighted that the expenditure observers are members of the All-India Services or other autonomous bodies who are free from any kind of influence from the contesting candidates. Similarly, the composition of various other teams has also been highlighted in the counter-affidavit." 

The petition was disposed of with the liberty granted to the petitioner to submit further representations. The Court concluded that if the committees find the suggestions "worthy of reliance," they should be adopted to strengthen the monitoring of electoral malpractices.

Cause Title: Prabhakar Deshpande v. Election Commission of India [W.P.(C) No. 1290/2021]