New Delhi: Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj Party on Friday came under criticism from the party Supreme Court File a writ petition seeking to annul the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections The rationale is that the dole of Rs 10,000 to women on the eve of the polls is a corrupt practice and changes the level playing field. “How many votes did your party get? People rejected you in the elections. Now you want to use the judicial platform to gain support,” said a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. The JSP contested on 238 seats but failed to win a single one, securing only a measly 3.4 per cent of votes. The party received less votes than NOTA in 68 constituencies. JSP’s lawyer CU Singh said the distribution of Rs 10,000 under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojna during the period when the election model code of conduct was in force amounting to Rs 15,600 crore amounted to corruption. Terming the relief payments as freebies, Singh said Bihar is one of the five states with the largest fiscal deficit and spending such huge sums from the exchequer without economic planning will further affect its financial health. The SC bench said, “There is a distinction between legal and constitutional issues and fiscal policy. If the ruling party is causing damage to the country through its economic policies, then the people should vote it out. We cannot entertain such a petition. This is a comprehensive election petition seeking annulment of the entire election.” “You file an election petition for each constituency and prove that the candidate won due to corrupt practices. Otherwise, if a candidate won by a margin of 10,000 votes and only 1,000 women got relief, why should his election be set aside,” the bench asked. As lawyers continue to persuade the court to review the legality and constitutionality of the freebies in the run-up to the election, the judge said the issues in the pending petitions will be carefully scrutinized but will not be considered in the case of parties that were badly defeated in the elections. “All political parties indulge in the same free game once they come to power,” the bench said. “Why didn’t you raise a question when the government announced Rs 10,000 to every woman in Bihar,” the SC bench said. It told the party to move it to the Patna High Court. “You withdraw the petition and submit it to the Supreme Council. We will have the benefit of the Supreme Council’s view,” the bench said. JSR withdrew its petition.
