Delhi HC denies urgent hearing of plea against AAP’s ₹2,100 for women sop

Delhi HC maintains January 30 hearing on AAP's women aid scheme, dismissing urgency plea. Controversy arises as Delhi govt disavows the program.

The Delhi high court on Monday declined to advance the hearing date on a petition seeking to halt further registration under the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) “Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana,” under which women were promised ₹2,100 monthly aid if the party secured power in the upcoming Delhi elections.

The scheme was challenged in a petition filed by one Vijay Kumar who moved an application to advance the date fixed by the court. (HT Archive)

The court maintained its January 30 hearing date, dismissing the petitioner’s plea for urgency.

The scheme was challenged in a petition filed by one Vijay Kumar who moved an application to advance the date fixed by the court.

A bench of justice Jyoti Singh found no justification to advance the date, particularly when Kumar did not appear on the last date of hearing despite the matter being called out thrice on January 10. On that day, the high court adjourned the matter to January 30.

“On the last date, matter was passed over three times and the petitioner was unrepresented. No grounds for early hearing is made out,” justice Singh said.

In his application seeking early hearing, Kumar underscored that the Delhi government was continuing with the registration under the scheme. His petition claimed that the AAP was luring voters with a false announcement as the government had already denied having such a scheme. He further sought directive for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to act on the complaint, stating that failure of the apex poll body to take a call would have a “grave impact” on Delhi’s women voters.

On January 9, the high court had raised questions regarding the maintainability of the plea. “How is it maintainable as an election petition? You go and file a PIL,” justice Jyoti Singh had told advocate Shiv Shankar Parashar, representing Kumar.

The scheme was rolled out by AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal on December 12, promising that the party would raise the monthly aid from ₹1,000 to ₹2,100 if the party returned to power. Kejriwal clarified that the first instalments under the scheme will only be credited after the elections.

In December 2024, the ruling party in Delhi had also launched a registration drive for the scheme. However, controversy erupted a day later, when the Delhi government’s women and child development and health departments issued separate public notices disavowing the programme, calling them “non-existent”. The notices also urged residents not to share personal data, sparking political uproar. The notices, which further said that no such scheme had been notified by the Delhi government, resulted in a war of words between AAP and BJP.

Chief minister Atishi, in a sharp reaction, alleged the notices were issued “under pressure” from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and vowed legal and administrative action against the officers responsible. “Wrong information has been issued by these officers. They will face strict action,” Atishi said at a press conference. Later, the AAP said that over 1.3 million people have registered for the Mahila Samman Yojana.

The BJP lashed out against the AAP, accusing it of deceit. Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said: “It’s a very sad situation that the AAP government is doing exactly what digital fraudsters do by collecting people’s personal data that can be misused. They are misleading the public, especially women and the elderly, by bringing schemes without notification.”

The Congress too joined in criticism against the AAP’s proposed scheme with Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit labelling the drives as “fraud.”