SC seeks Centre, ECI’s response on plea to check money power in elections

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Central government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a plea seeking checks on the unrestricted expenditure by political parties during elections.

Asking the Centre and the ECI to file their responses and posting the matter for hearing after six weeks, a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi while expressing doubts over the effectiveness of said regulations, said that the issue raises some constitutional questions.

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Appearing for NGO Common Cause, advocate Prashant Bhushan argued that unchecked political spending is distorting democracy. He referred to the Supreme Court’s earlier 2024 judgment striking down the Electoral Bonds scheme, where the Court had recognised the harmful impact of unregulated political funding.

Bhushan told the Bench that the problem of unbridled money power during elections is a fundamental issue affecting democracy.

However, the judges also raised concerns about how spending limits could be enforced. Justice Bagchi pointed out that even in countries like the United States, where there are limits, money often flows through friends and associates of candidates. He questioned whether imposing caps could lead to fresh challenges under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression, including political support.

The plea comes after the Supreme Court’s February 2024 decision in the Electoral Bonds case, where a Constitution Bench struck down the scheme as unconstitutional. The Court had then held that anonymous political funding violated the right to information and principles of transparency in democracy.

The present petition seeks clearer rules on political party expenditure and disclosure of actual spending during elections.