People rejected you: Supreme Court bins Jan Suraaj plea to scrap Bihar polls
Jan Suraaj, which contested 242 seats but won none in 2025, had sought fresh Bihar elections, alleging Rs 10,000 transfers to women under a state scheme during the Model Code of Conduct period.
The Supreme Court on Friday turned down a plea by the Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj Party seeking to nullify the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections over alleged misuse of a government welfare scheme to influence the voters ahead of polls.
Hearing the matter, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi, questioned the party's locus after its electoral rout. Jan Suraaj had entered the fray in 242 of Bihar's 243 constituencies but failed to secure a single seat.
The court made it clear that judicial forums cannot be used to undo an electoral verdict.
"How many votes did you get? Once people reject you, you use the judicial forum to get relief! Somebody should have challenged the scheme itself then. That is not the prayer before us. You just want the election to be declared null and void," Bar and Bench quoted the Supreme Court as saying.
Refusing to go into the merits, the Supreme Court held that the issue must be examined by the concerned High Court since the challenge related only to one state. "Since it deals with only one State, please go to that High Court. In some cases, there is a serious issue of freebies which we will seriously examine," the Bench added.
Jan Suraaj had approached the Supreme Court alleging that the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government influenced voters by rolling out cash transfers while the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in force. The party sought directions for fresh elections to be held in the state and also urged the court to order the Election Commission of India (ECI) to frame guidelines on welfare announcements close to polling.
The controversy centered around the Nitish Kumar-led government's Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, introduced shortly before the Assembly polls. Under the programme, the state transferred Rs 10,000 to one woman in each family for self-employment, along with a promise of up to Rs 2 lakh after assessment.
According to the petition, access to the scheme was tied to enrollment with JEEVIKA, the state's network of women self-help groups. The government also allowed fresh registrations to avail the benefit.
Jan Suraaj claimed that while roughly one crore women were linked to JEEVIKA before the MCC came into effect, subsequent reports showed that about 1.56 crore women eventually received the payout, which, it argued, distorted the level playing field during elections.
On these grounds, the party had sought to have the 2025 Bihar election declared illegal and asked for a fresh mandate. The Supreme Court, however, declined to entertain the plea and directed the petitioner to pursue the matter before the High Court.
The Supreme Court on Friday turned down a plea by the Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj Party seeking to nullify the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections over alleged misuse of a government welfare scheme to influence the voters ahead of polls.
Hearing the matter, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi, questioned the party's locus after its electoral rout. Jan Suraaj had entered the fray in 242 of Bihar's 243 constituencies but failed to secure a single seat.
The court made it clear that judicial forums cannot be used to undo an electoral verdict.
"How many votes did you get? Once people reject you, you use the judicial forum to get relief! Somebody should have challenged the scheme itself then. That is not the prayer before us. You just want the election to be declared null and void," Bar and Bench quoted the Supreme Court as saying.
Refusing to go into the merits, the Supreme Court held that the issue must be examined by the concerned High Court since the challenge related only to one state. "Since it deals with only one State, please go to that High Court. In some cases, there is a serious issue of freebies which we will seriously examine," the Bench added.
Jan Suraaj had approached the Supreme Court alleging that the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government influenced voters by rolling out cash transfers while the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in force. The party sought directions for fresh elections to be held in the state and also urged the court to order the Election Commission of India (ECI) to frame guidelines on welfare announcements close to polling.
The controversy centered around the Nitish Kumar-led government's Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, introduced shortly before the Assembly polls. Under the programme, the state transferred Rs 10,000 to one woman in each family for self-employment, along with a promise of up to Rs 2 lakh after assessment.
According to the petition, access to the scheme was tied to enrollment with JEEVIKA, the state's network of women self-help groups. The government also allowed fresh registrations to avail the benefit.
Jan Suraaj claimed that while roughly one crore women were linked to JEEVIKA before the MCC came into effect, subsequent reports showed that about 1.56 crore women eventually received the payout, which, it argued, distorted the level playing field during elections.
On these grounds, the party had sought to have the 2025 Bihar election declared illegal and asked for a fresh mandate. The Supreme Court, however, declined to entertain the plea and directed the petitioner to pursue the matter before the High Court.