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News Topical, Digital Desk : The Supreme Court today refused to hear a petition filed by Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraj Party challenging the Bihar Assembly elections, 2025 and seeking fresh polls.
When the court expressed reluctance to hear the case, the petitioner decided to withdraw it, with liberty to approach the High Court. A bench comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi dismissed the petition as withdrawn.
What did the petitioner's lawyer say?
Senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, representing the petitioner, said the Supreme Court is already examining the issue of "freebies" in other cases. Singh said, "The code of conduct is in place in every state, and in a state with a fiscal deficit, one of the most indebted states, giving so many crores of rupees for elections without any budget support will completely disrupt the level playing field."
What did the CJI say?
The CJI stated that the writ petition was a "composite election petition," seeking an "omnibus" order to nullify the entire election. The CJI further stated that specific allegations regarding corrupt electoral practices must be made against each candidate. The Chief Justice stated that the correct approach is to file election petitions for each constituency.
'You came to the Supreme Court for publicity'
CJI Surya Kant remarked, "How many votes did your party get? If people reject you, you approach the court to gain popularity."
The CJI said that the cash transfer scheme should have been challenged. The lawyer replied that it could be challenged. The CJI then pointed out that the writ petition contained no prayer against the cash transfer scheme and that the prayer was to cancel the entire election.
When the lawyer said that the prayers against the election could be set aside to consider the issue of freebies, the CJI asked him to approach the High Court. "The High Court can certainly consider it; it's not an all-India issue," the Chief Justice said.
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