During a major portion of this month, the nation has witnessed election rallies and amidst all of this, several commoners have benefitted by the persuasive tactics of the candidates. The primary intent behind these rallies is to bring out a sense of awareness among the citizens so that they effectively exercise their right to vote and choose a representative who they consider to be the best.

In the process of becoming persuasive, the candidates also give speeches to let the common people know about their intentions if they win the elections. According to Article 324 of the Constitution of India, an Election Commission is set up which takes the charge of conducting free and fair elections in India. The Election Commission is the sole authority which sets up the date and schedule of holding the elections and also has the right to recount the votes or postpone an election if the initial phase seems to lack fairness and does not seem to have been free. However, there are times when this freeness has been brought into question and several times out of those, the reason is the Election Manifesto.

In a recent case of Khurshidurehman S Rehman v. State Of U.P and Another[1], the petitioner had sought registration of cognisable offences including cheating, fraud, criminal breach of trust, fraud and false allurement, against the BJP.[2] The petitioner stated that the BJP had failed to fulfil the promised made to the voters in 2014. On this, the Allahabad High Court gave its judgement under the supervisory jurisdiction of Article 227 of the Constitution that although an Election Manifesto of a political party is a statement of their views and promises, there is no law which makes it binding upon the party or penalises the party for not fulfilling them. According to the Instructions sent to the political parties on Manifestos by the Election Commission of India, the definition of an Election Manifesto is as follows[3]:

          “A manifesto is generally defined as a published declaration of the intentions, motives or views of an individual, group, political party or government whosoever issues it. A manifesto usually comprises a previously published opinion or public consensus and/or promotes a new idea with prescriptive notions for carrying out changes for future.”

Nowhere does it specify that it is a contract between the people and the political parties. Hence, one cannot legally put forth a claim on its breach. When parties present themselves to voters during elections, they provide the Manifesto as a reference as to their ideologies and not unbreakable vows. Hence, the judgment passed by the Allahabad High Court in the above-mentioned case seems justified in order to allow the political parties to present themselves in fairness towards their ideologies.