free gifts and votes

The Election Commission (EC) had added its voice to India’s debate for free. Election operators reportedly want political parties to tell voters ahead of the election what their handout proposals will cost and how they will be funded. It may also include a photograph of the size that holds public treasures. These proposed disclosure norms have been put in place for the views of political parties. Coming clean sounds good in theory, and the UK government’s troubles over fiscal credibility offer a cautionary tale, but our bigger problem is the lack of consensus on what qualifies as a freebie and what does. social support or vocational encouragement. Governance involves fund allocation which may or may not be called discretionary depending on the political perspective of the allocator. Given such high subjectivity, no EC intervention would be advised here. In an electoral democracy, voters get to decide what they do with political promises, no matter how impractical they may be. What voters deserve, however, is a clearer picture of the state’s finances. Budget disclosures should be easy to interpret, and political rivalry must be relied upon for Indian voters to begin to understand fiscal tradeoffs.