Kejriwal cornered by EC, Kiran Bedi as Delhi polls near

The Election Commission on Tuesday warned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal of stern action under the Indian Penal Code and other electoral laws if he continued with his poll pitch that "accept bribe from the BJP and the Congress, but vote for the AAP".

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal was on Tuesday warned of stern action by the poll panel and threatened with a legal battle by BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi.

AAP-chief-Arvind-Kejriwal-greets-the-crowd-after-filing-his-nomination-paper-for-New-Delhi-constituency-for-upcoming-Delhi-Assembly-election-at-Jam-Nagar-House-in-New-Delhi--Photo-by-Ajay-Aggarwal-HT

The Election Commission told the AAP’s CM candidate that it would act against him if he continued to ask voters to accept money from the BJP and the Congress but vote for his party.

“You are hereby warned that the commission shall be constrained to take stern action against you in the event of any further violation,” the EC said. It can register a case against Kejriwal if he continues to ignore the warning.

Bedi, in her notice, asked Kejriwal to remove her pictures from AAP’s posters. “It irked me. He (Kejriwal) is using my name without my permission. On the poster, it says ‘honest’ under his name and ‘opportunist’ under mine. This is not acceptable,” the former IPS officer said.

This is the second time that a BJP leader has sent notice to Kejriwal over the pictures in his campaign posters.

Jagdish Mukhi had objected to him being projected as the BJP’s CM candidate even though the party had not announced its pick for the top post in Delhi.

The AAP accused the BJP of faulting it for everything it did.

“Till the other day, the BJP was asking us why we haven’t replaced Jagdish Mukhi’s photograph with that of Kiran Bedi’s on our posters. Now that we have done it, they seem to be upset,” national executive member Yogendra Yadav said.

The poster was not a personal attack or an abuse, he said. “I don’t understand their agitation. We are yet to receive the notice. Once we do, we will respond to it.” said

The third warning from the poll panel came as Kejriwal has continued to repeat his bribe remarks even after assuring the EC that he would abide by the model code of conduct.

“Despite my reasons for the appeal, if the EC thinks that my appeal was wrong, I will not make such an appeal again,” he had told the EC on January 23.