Election Manifesto Guidelines

5 years ago

Respected

I would be grateful if you could answer some of my queries regarding Public Interest Litigation. I had sent following suggestions to Election Commission of India:

Election Commission of India should issue following guidelines to the political party in power regarding election manifesto:
(a) While contesting the election, the political party in power should submit an affidavit, to the election commission, of the status of the promises mentioned in the manifesto for the previous election.
(b) The political party in power should publish the affidavit along with the current election manifesto.

(Please find the attached PDF herewith for more details)

According to supreme court's judgement, there is no any provision in law which makes promises made in the manifesto enforceable against a political party. Hence, the best ECI can do is to ask the political party in power, while contesting the election, to submit an affidavit of the status of the promises mentioned in the manifesto for the previous election. These guidelines will be helpful to make political parties more responsible while making election manifesto promises as they will have to put their status in public domain while contesting for following election.

But the Election Commission of India has refused to accept my suggestions (Please find the attached file of letter received from Election Commission of India). There does not appear to be any sound reason for non-incorporation of the said suggestions. In fact, the said guidelines would enable voters to choose and decide effectively.

I request you to let me know if I can file a PIL to direct ECI to implement these guidelines. Is this issue valid for filing a PIL? If yes, kindly let me know if you can file a PIL for me, its procedure and your fees.

With kind regards,
Dr. Akshay Bajad