The Supreme Court on Friday sought response of the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan governments on a PIL alleging distribution of freebies to voters ahead of assembly polls in both states.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also issued notices to the Centre, the Election Commission and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the PIL, which also alleged that taxpayers’ monies are misused by the 2 state governments to lure voters.
The lawyer representing the petitioner stated, “There can be nothing more atrocious than the government distributing cash before the polls. This is happening every time and the burden is on the taxpayers ultimately.”
The bench stated, “Issue notice. Returnable in 4 weeks.”
The court took note of the PIL filed by Bhattulal Jain and ordered that it be tagged with a pending plea on the issue.
