EC asks Atishi to back allegations against BJP with facts

The Election Commission on Friday issued a show-cause notice to Delhi minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi, asking her to back with facts her statement that the Bharatiya Janata Party approached her to join the party.

The BJP moved the poll commission a day back against Atishi's 'false statement' that the party had reached out to her through someone close and asked her to join it.

The Election Commission notice to Atishi read, '...you are a minister in the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi and leader of a national party. The electors tend to believe whatever is being said from public forum by their leaders and in that sense the statements made by them affect the campaign discourse.'

The poll panel said it expects that there must be a 'factual foundation' to the statements made by the AAP leader.

'...when the veracity of the statements made by you is contested then you must be able to back your statements by a factual basis,' it added.

On April 2, the AAP leader claimed that the BJP approached her to either join the party or be prepared to be nabbed by the Enforcement Directorate within a month.

"I was approached by the BJP through a person very close to me who asked me to join the BJP to save and enhance my political career or I will be arrested within a month," she said at a press conference.

In its notice to the AAP leader, the poll authority told her that the matter was being examined in light of the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and relevant electoral laws.

The AAP leader has been asked to respond by Monday noon.

'Now, therefore, you are hereby called upon to furnish your para-wise response to the matter...,' the EC notice added.

The AAP leader was also reminded of a recent advisory on plummeting levels of political discourse that stated that parties and leaders will not make false statements or utterances without factual basis.

The poll body also referred to a provision of the model code which states that criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion should be avoided.

Atishi lashed out at EC after she was served the notice, asking if it was a 'subsidiary organisation' of the BJP.

She alleged that the notice was leaked to the media by the BJP an hour before the EC sent it to her through email.

She asked why the Election Commission did not issue notices to the central agencies concerned after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested and bank accounts of the Congress were frozen ahead of elections.

She asked if the Election Commission is a 'subsidiary organisation' of the BJP.

She said the AAP wrote multiple letters to the poll panel over the BJP's 'objectionable' hoardings and posters, but no action was taken on them.

Atishi said she will reply to the notice and remind the Election Commission of the neutrality and non-partisanship expected of it in conducting free and fair elections in the country.