E-Paper
Arvind Kejriwal’s bribe comment: ECI will decide action
The Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) had issued two notices to Kejriwal after the BJP complained on April 29 alleging that the AAP was distributing pamphlets urging voters to take money from the BJP and the Congress but vote for the AAP instead.
A senior state election commission officer Sunday said that Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal’s response to allegations that he asked voters to accept money from other parties but vote for his party, has been sent to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) had issued two notices to Kejriwal after the BJP complained on April 29 alleging that the AAP was distributing pamphlets urging voters to take money from the BJP and the Congress but vote for the AAP instead.
Kejriwal, during a road show on May 1 in Chandni Chowk constituency had repeated his statement, however, without naming any party. Kejriwal’s response reached the CEO office on May 2.
“We have received his response and we have forwarded it to the ECI on Friday. We are waiting for the ECI’s decision on this matter,” said a
senior official, privy to the development.
“The ECI is biased and is working as a B team of the BJP. We had flagged this long back when the ECI had illegally disqualified our 20 MLAs without even giving them chance to defend themselves. The ECI was exposed when their order was turned down by the High Court of Delhi. Now all opposition parties are saying the same about ECI. It pains us that they have lost all credibility,” said Saurabh Bharadwaj, national spokesperson of the AAP.
This is not the first time that such allegations have come up against AAP and its convener. In 2015, Kejriwal had made similar remarks during the Delhi assembly election campaign. I
n January 2017, during the Goa assembly elections, Kejriwal urged voters to accept money from other parties and vote for AAP.
Following the incident, the ECI had issued a warning.
“According to ECI instructions, if the Model Code of Conduct is violated by a chief minister or a union minister, then it is the ECI which has to take the decision for initiating actions. The CEO can’t take decisions if the allegations are against any chief minister or a union minister,” said an official.
