Aam Aadmi Party moves SC to intervene in PIL seeking regulation of 'freebies'

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court to intervene in a plea seeking regulation of freebies.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party told the court that petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay, linked to BJP, wants to oppose a particular 'socialist and welfarist agenda' practiced by it that helps downtrodden and poor.
It added, "Petitioner’s prayer to prohibit political parties from promising or making any claims about the
manner in which they plan to meet this socialist and welfarist mandate of the Constitution is not
just untenable but also malafide."
AAP also said that by removing such socialist and welfarist agenda from electoral discourse, the petitioner seeks to advance interests of a different, more parochial kind of politics reliant on caste and communal appeals instead of on appeals to people’s welfare.
Kejriwal-led party further claimed in court that it had the fundamental right to free speech under Article 19 of the Constitution, which included election speeches and promises for upliftment of poor by providing night shelters, free electricity, free education and free healthcare facilities.
In its observation over the PIL filed by Upadhyay, the top court had said that some help to poor is needed but asked to what extent and also wanted to know impact of freebies on the tax payers and national economy.
It had also sought suggestions from stakeholders for setting up of a expert panel to study the issue.
Stressing its fundamental right to announce 'freebies' which it labelled as social and welfarist measures, the AAP said, "Prima facie, any restriction on electoral speech of the kind prayed for by Petitioner is not justified on any of the grounds."
The Kejriwal-led party further argued in court that the the petitioner, despite claiming to be concerned about fiscal deficit, ignores vast fiscal losses to the exchequer caused by tax rebates, subsidies and other such ‘freebies’ routinely provided to big industries and businesses by Centre and state governments.