Poll panel in Supreme Court backs committee to curb electoral freebies

The Election Commission of India on Wednesday came in support of instituting a committee as suggested by the Supreme Court to take a holistic view on how to curb the culture of freebies in elections.

Setting up any such expert body, having representation from a wide spectrum of the government and non-governmental bodies is a welcome step.

The panel seeks not to be part of an expert body, proposed to decide the validity of the freebies in a PIL.

That the comments made by the Supreme Court against the election commission have caused irreparable damage to the reputation of the institution built over the years.

The reputational damage of this magnitude does not augur well for the country, which is relatively young but the largest and stable democracy in the world.