Make parties accountable for vows, says Chief Justice of India JS Khehar

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar said on Saturday that political parties must be made accountable for not fulfilling electoral promises made in their manifestos. And since the Indian legal system doesn’t provide for any penalty for promises not honoured, people have to step up and do it, he indicated.

Speaking in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, at a seminar titled ‘Economic Reforms with Reference to Electoral issues’, Justice Khehar said that political parties must not be allowed to get away with “brazen” excuses like lack of consensus among their members to justify non-fulfilment of their poll promises.

“No consequence occurs whether promises are fulfilled or not… Even our legal system provides for no consequences to be suffered by political parties if promises made in the manifesto are not fulfilled. Uninformed citizenry, with a short-term memory, forgets and the election manifesto becomes a mere piece of paper. For this, political parties have to be made accountable,” the CJI said.