P NALLA THAMPY TERAH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, Dr. P. Nalla Thampy Thera, is not an intermeddler or a busybody. He is a public-spirited citizen whose motives in filing this petition are to be admired even if his contentions may not merit acceptance. By this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, he challenges the validity of Explanation 1 to section 77(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") which gives a carte blanche to political parties to spend unlimited monies for the election of the candidates sponsored by them. In practice, insofar as our little knowledge of political affairs goes, sky is, the limit for such expenditure:Some call it millions, some call it billions.

(2.) The particular provision of the statute which is under consideration here, has a short, though significant history. A judgment of this Court led to its enactment, That judgment, to which one of us, Bhagwati J., was a party, was delivered on October 3, 1974 in Kanwar Lal Gupta v. Amar Nath Chawla (1975) 2 SCR 259. Section 77(1) of the Act. as it stood then, read thus :

(3.) On November 7, 1974, Bill No. 104 of 1974 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in order to get over the judgment in Kanwar Lal Gupta (supra). The Statement of Objects and Reasons of that Bill reads thus: