Bhubaneswar, July 6: The Supreme Court’s direction to the Election Commission to regulate announcement of freebies such as laptops and mobile sets by political parties on the eve of polls has left the BJD in a tizzy.

The Naveen Patnaik government had been announcing free sops for various sections of people.

The apex court, in its recent judgment, said that though the promises in the election manifesto could not be construed as “corrupt practice”, the reality could not be ruled out that distribution of freebies of any kind, undoubtedly “influences” the electorate. “It shakes the root of free and fair elections to a large degree,” it observed.

Reacting to the judgment, the Opposition parties in the state have urged the Election Commission to immediately implement the apex court’s direction to create a level playing field for all contestants.

Congress leader and former law minister Narasingh Mishra said the Election Commission in consultation with the political parties should formulate guidelines to save the democracy. “Alluring the voters with cheap promises may temporarily help the ruling party to win an electoral battle, but it will ultimately kill the democracy,” he said.

BJP state president K.V. Singhdeo said the commission should evolve some way to restrain the ruling parties from distributing freebies to the voters.

An Opposition leader said the BJD government had announced several sops, including laptops, mobile sets, bicycles, umbrellas and blankets, in the past one year to woo the voters.

The Naveen Patnaik government is scheduled to distribute laptops to 15,000 meritorious students at the Plus Two level from August 15. It had distributed free mobile sets to nearly 5,000 farmers on June 18 and another 15,000 mobile sets will be distributed to the farmers in the near future on the ground that these will help them get proper agricultural inputs at the right time. The state government has provided Rs 2 crore in the current year’s budget for this purpose.

On June 15, the chief minister had distributed one-time allowance of Rs 100 to nearly 38 lakh people to enable them to purchase umbrellas. On May 1, he had also unveiled a Rs 26-crore scheme to distribute cycles, free slippers, gloves and helmets to labourers.

The state’s finance minister and BJD vice-president Prasanna Acharya said the party would abide by the Supreme Court’s order. “But, we have distributed laptops to students, who are not voters. Our intention was to make them acquainted with the advanced teaching system,” he said.

When it was said that the government had distributed free mobile sets to the farmers, Acharya said: “We have not distributed mobile sets to all farmers. We will distribute mobile sets to only 20,000 advanced farmers this year. It will help them know latest farming methods, weather and market price.”

“The Opposition allegation is also an insult to the farmers, who cannot be purchased in exchange of a mobile set which costs a few hundred rupees,” he said.