NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday issued a notice to the senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi over her accusation that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) approached her through a close aide in an attempt to coax her into switching parties.
The ECI notice was issued on a complaint by the BJP which has accused the Delhi minister of violating the model code of conduct by making unsubstantiated allegations The notice asked Atishi to file her response by Monday.
The notice said electors tend to believe statements by their leaders which can affect the campaign discourse.
“It is expected that there must be a factual foundation to the quoted statements made by you and when the veracity of the statements made by you is contested, then you must be able to back your statements by a factual basis,” the ECI notice said.
The notice comes a day after the BJP sent a legal notice to Atishi, threatening to sue her if she does not retract her accusation.
Days after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21, Atishi on Tuesday said he had been told that she should join the BJP or face arrest by the ED.
“First, they put the entire top political leadership of AAP, including Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Sanjay Singh, and Arvind Kejriwal, in jail. Now, the BJP wants to arrest four more AAP leaders before the Lok Sabha elections. ED will raid our homes and homes of relatives and family members, and soon send summons for arrest. They will arrest me, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Durgesh Pathak, and Raghav Chadha,” Atishi said at Tuesday’s press conference at AAP headquarters.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva rebutted Atishi, saying she had failed to provide evidence of who approached her, how, and when. “The AAP is undergoing a crisis in Delhi, which is why they are making such baseless allegations out of frustration. But we will not let her get away with this.”
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