Announcement of freebies by parties comes with tadka of populism: CEC Rajiv Kumar

New Delhi: Announcement of freebies by political parties comes with a 'tadka of populism', chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said as he announced the election schedule for five state assemblies.

The CEC wondered why no government remembers to make such announcements over 'five years' of their rule and only declare them a fortnight or month before elections.

The CEC's observations came even as Rajasthan announced a ₹21,000-crore water supply scheme and Madhya Pradesh announced three new medical colleges on Monday - hours before EC declared poll schedules.


CEC said it was the right of the voter to know how political parties intend to fulfil "freebies"-related promises. He said that after such announcements even the victorious political party was often left in a bind - whether to implement such schemes or to stop them.

While he termed it the domain of the state government, CEC made clear EC's position on the issue.

"You are aware of EC's draft proforma on freebies for consultation with political parties. We proposed that political parties must tell the voter when they will implement such announcements, how they will do so and how much it will cost. The intent was to put this information in public domain as it is the right of the voter to know if such an announcement would, in any way, entail mortgaging future generations," the CEC said at a press conference in New Delhi.