BJP pushes for EC action against AAP

The BJP on Wednesday pushed for action against the AAP for “not adhering to law” in disclosing the details of the fund it received, and claimed there is ground for the Election Commission to cancel the party’s symbol.

Hitting out at the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led party, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi told reporters that the Aam Aadmi Party “has turned out to be the biggest beneficiaries of corrupt practices” after fighting elections on an anti-corruption plank.

Her comments follow the Election Commission flagging discrepancies in AAP’s electoral funding statement, and threatening it with action for “prima facie failing” to follow its transparency guidelines.

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In its show-cause notice, the EC claimed that transactions through hawala operators were “wrongly disclosed as voluntary donations”.

The AAP, in turn, dubbed the EC notice sent to it as “poor interpretation” of basic accounting practices and alleged “bias” of central agencies against it.

Lashing out at the AAP, Lekhi said it did not disclose over Rs 13 crore of the 67 crore received in donations, and had not maintained details of those who donated more than Rs 20,000 to the party as mandated by law.

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The party had received over Rs 2 crore after Kejriwal decided to contest against Narendra Modi in Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, she said, alleging that donor companies turned out to be “fake”.

She also claimed that the party was allotted a symbol, broom, in violation of rules.

Even that is a ground for withdrawing its symbol, she said.