Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday attracted censure from the Election Commission of India (ECI) for allegedly asking voters to accept bribe from BJP and Congress, but vote for his party.
The EC directed an FIR or complaint be filed against Kejriwal for his statements on and after 8 January in Goa.
The EC has also stated that a compliance report regarding the legal action against Kejriwal should be sent to the commission by 3 pm on 31 January.
A defiant Kejriwal on Tuesday had once again attacked the EC, accusing it of promoting corruption by restraining him from asking people to take money from his rival parties and vote for AAP.
“Being the Chief Minister of Delhi and a star campaigner of AAP in Goa, he is expected to conduct in an exemplary manner in election campaigns in a law abiding manner so as to be a role model for others to emulate, but he has on several occasions violated provisions of the Model Code of Conduct by breaking his assurance to the ECI given during the Delhi Assembly elections in 2015,” said the order.
Based on its observations on repeated violations, EC concluded that Mr. Kejriwal had violated Section 123(1) of the Representation of the People Act, read with Sections 171B and 171E of the Indian Penal Code.
“Arvind Kejriwal has again written a letter… stating therein that he is not abetting bribery by appealing to voters to accept money from any party but to vote in favour of Jharu (AAP)… he stated that the Commission is encouraging bribery by refraining him from uttering such statements.
“These submissions being baseless and scurrilous are totally unjustified in the light of the provisions of law on bribery and are not acceptable to the Commission,” the Commission said.
