Muzaffar Wani, Burhan Wani’s father, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Kashmir situation
Air travel expenditure incurred by a star campaigner to propagate the programmes of a political party cannot be included in the election expenses of a candidate, the Supreme Court has ruled.
If leaders of a political party pay for their use of helicopters and chartered planes, the candidate need not declare them as part of his poll expenses to the Election Commission, a Bench of Justices J. Chelameswar and A.M. Sapre said in a recent judgment.
The case concerned an election petition against Ajay Arjun Singh, who won from Churhat in Madhya Pradesh. Mr. Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi were the “star campaigners” who travelled across the State during the elections held in 2013.
One of Mr. Singh’s electoral rival, Sharadendu Tiwari, accused him of declaring inaccurate information about his expenses, even non-disclosure of information about organising a meeting of Mr. Gandhi and the use of a helicopter.
“The admitted fact is that the appellant [Mr. Singh] was one of the star campaigners for election in the State of Madhya Pradesh. Therefore, he was required to campaign for his party, not only in his constituency but also in other constituencies … In the absence of any allegation that the appellant used the helicopter for travelling within the Churhat constituency for … campaigning, the expenditure incurred on that account, in our opinion, cannot be included in the election expenditure of the appellant,” Justice Chelameswar, who authored the judgment, said.
Section 77 obligates every candidate to keep a separate current account of expenditures incurred for the election. However, clause (a) of explanation (1) to Section 77 declares that money spent by leaders of a party on air travel or other means of transport for propagating the programme of the party should not be included in the candidate’s expenses.
However, the court observed that this exemption was limited to the campaign travels of a star campaigner. “In other words, the expenditure incurred in connection with arrangements such as erection of pandals for a meeting of a star campaigner does not form part of the exempted expenditure. Secondly, the star campaigner’s travel expenditure must have been incurred by the star campaigner himself,” the court held.
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