MK Stalin's DMK approaches Supreme Court challenging definition of freebies

The apex court is hearing a petition that has challenged the promise of freebies at election time, contending that this practice can bring financial disaster to a state.

Till now, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, known for providing free power and water in the states it rules, has challenged the stance of the petition, which was filed by the BJP's Ashwini Upadhyay.

Tamil Nadu is one of the states where the use of freebies at election time has been traditional, cutting across party lines.

Even before elections, clothes, food and household items have been distributed among the people, sometimes to the extent of violating the model code.

MK Stalin's DMK, too, has introduced various welfare schemes for the people of Tamil Nadu including rice at Re 1 a kg, free distribution of colour television sets to poor households and free bus passes to women.

In its petition on Tuesday, DMK argued that a welfare scheme introduced by a state government cannot be judged to be classified as a freebie.

"The ruling government at the Union giving tax holidays to foreign companies, waiver of bad loans of influential industrialists, granting crucial contracts to favoured conglomerates etc. also have to be considered and cannot be left untouched," the petition read.

"This court cannot have a restrictive approach for classifying any scheme or act by the Union/State Legislature to be a 'freebie' without considering the magnitude of resultant consequences and social welfare at both micro and macro level," the DMK contended.