The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued a notice to Atishi on April 5 regarding her assertions about being pressured to ‘join BJP or face jail’. The Delhi minister has been requested to provide a response.
In the notice, the ECI stipulates, “Criticism of other political parties should be limited to their policies, past record, and work. Parties and candidates must refrain from criticizing private aspects of life unrelated to the public activities of leaders or workers of other parties. Criticizing other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion should be avoided.”
Additionally, the notice reiterates, “Political parties and leaders must refrain from making false statements or utterances without factual basis aimed at misleading voters. Criticizing other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortions should be avoided.”
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister has until 5 PM on April 6 to provide her response.
What Atishi Alleged
As per the notice, the Commission received a complaint from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regarding Atishi’s “misleading and unverified” assertion during her press conference on April 2.
The AAP minister previously claimed that she was urged to join the saffron party to evade repercussions.
“I have been informed that soon there will be ED raids at our residence and then we will be taken into custody. The BJP is now targeting the next line of the leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party,” Atishi stated.
BJP’s Response
The BJP has dismissed Atishi’s claim as “baseless”.
“I too can make such baseless allegations. I too can say that Saurabh Bharadwaj called me up and requested me to protect them from Arvind Kejriwal who wants to put them behind bars and make Sunita Kejriwal the CM,” BJP leader RP Singh remarked.
