The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission on a PIL seeking a direction to seize the election symbol or de-register a political party that promises or distributes “irrational freebies” from public funds before elections.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli sought the response in four weeks on the PIL filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay.