SC Seeks Centre, EC Reply on Plea for Cap on Political Party Election Spend

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi sought responses from the Union government and the poll panel and directed that the matter be listed after six weeks.

According to the plea, while Section 77(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 prescribes strict expenditure ceilings for individual candidates contesting elections, no corresponding statutory cap exists on spending by political parties.

The petition, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, argues that this legal framework allows parties to deploy "unlimited financial resources" during campaigns, effectively rendering candidate expenditure limits "illusory and ineffective".

The petitioner, the non-governmental organisation Common Cause, submitted that this dichotomy has been judicially acknowledged by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Association for Democratic Reforms & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors., which highlighted the exclusionary and distortionary impact of unregulated party expenditure on electoral outcomes and democratic participation.

Describing free and fair elections as the "cornerstone of India's constitutional democracy", the plea submits that unregulated party spending has undermined equality of political opportunity and distorted the representative character of parliamentary democracy.

It also referred to recommendations made by multiple expert bodies, including the Law Commission's 170th Report and consultations conducted by the ECI in 2015, which suggested regulation or ceilings on political party expenditure.

Further, the plea argued that unchecked spending has led to increasing "presidentialisation" of Indian elections, where campaigns are centred around projecting a single leader through massive financial outlays, contrary to the parliamentary framework envisaged under the Constitution.

Drawing a comparative reference, the PIL cited the United Kingdom's Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, which imposes statutory limits on campaign expenditure by political parties and provides for penal consequences in case of violations.

Contending that the growing influence of money power has "gravely undermined electoral fairness, equality of political opportunity, and the representative character of parliamentary democracy", the plea has sought directions to ensure a level playing field in elections.

- IANS