New Delhi: The Supreme Court has declined to entertain a writ petition filed by the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) challenging the validity of the 2025 Bihar assembly elections.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi dismissed the petition as withdrawn after the petitioner chose to approach the high court with the grievance, LiveLaw reported.While granting liberty to the petitioner to move the high court, CJI Kant made oral observations regarding the nature of the plea. “Freebies issue is being examined by us seriously. We would like to go into an apt case, but not at the instance of a party that has lost everything in the election,” the CJI remarked.He further observed, “If people reject, then you approach the judicial forum to get popularity.”The JSP faced a crushing defeat in its maiden electoral outing. In the assembly results declared in November 2025, the party failed to win a single seat despite contesting over 230 constituencies. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) retained power with a landslide 202 seats in the 243-member House, while the JSP recorded a negligible vote share of approximately 3.4%, with a vast majority of its candidates forfeiting their security deposits.Alleged irregularitiesThe petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, specifically challenged the direct transfer of Rs 10,000 to women voters in the state while the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in force. The party argued that the announcement was made without prior scrutiny to over 1.56 crore women.Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that offering such sums in a state facing a fiscal deficit disrupted the level playing field. “The Model Code of Conduct is in every state… to offer so many crores as an election dole, without any budgetary support, will completely disrupt the level playing field,” Singh argued.He contended that the only qualification for the transfer was that the woman or her husband should not be an income tax payer or hold a government job.Procedural groundsThe bench, however, questioned the maintainability of the plea under Article 32. Justice Bagchi asked under which clause of Section 100 of the Representation of the People Act an entire election could be set aside.CJI Kant characterised the plea as a “composite election petition” seeking an “omnibus” order. He stated that specific allegations regarding corrupt practices must be made against individual candidates through election petitions in the appropriate forum.When Singh suggested segregating the prayers to focus specifically on the issue of “freebies,” the CJI directed him to the high court, noting that it was not a pan-India issue.Specific prayersThe petition had sought directions for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take action under Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act against the direct transfer of Rs 10,000 to approximately 25-35 lakh women voters.It also challenged the deployment of 1.8 lakh women beneficiaries from the self-help group JEEVIKA at polling booths, terming it illegal and unfair.The petitioner further sought the implementation of the Supreme Court’s directions in S. Subramaniam Balaji v. State of Tamil Nadu (2013) to prepare comprehensive guidelines on welfare schemes and Direct Benefit Transfers announced by ruling parties before election schedules are notified.