New Delhi: Delhi minister and senior AAP leader Atishi lashed out at the Election Commission (EC) after she was served a show-cause notice on Friday, asking if it was a "subsidiary organisation" of the BJP.
She said in a press conference that "questions were raised over neutrality of the EC" whose responsibility was to remain non-partisan, provide level-playing field to the opposition parties, and conduct free and fair elections.
The notice was issued to Atishi by the poll body over her claims that the BJP had approached her to either join the party or be prepared to be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) within a month.
Atishi said that news was flashed at 11:15 AM on Friday that she has been issued a notice by the EC whereas she got it through email at 11:45 AM.
"It means the news of EC notice was first planted to the media by the BJP and then the EC gave the notice. I want to ask the Election Commission of the country - have you become a subsidiary organisation of the BJP," she said.
The senior AAP leader 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.
The Election Commission of India has been given a very big responsibility by the Constitution to save democracy in the country, she said. Atishi said the present three election commissioners had predecessors like T N Seshan, and added, "You are running an Election Commission that is looked up to by the whole world and praised for. No question is ever raised on the impartiality of elections in a country like India."
"I want to appeal the EC not to bow down before the BJP and its central government. The three election commissioners will be remembered by the country for 100 years for all the wrong reasons if they do not allow level-playing field and free and fair elections," she said.
The Election Commission in its notice has asked Atishi to back with facts her statement that the BJP approached her to join the party. The BJP moved the poll commission on Thursday against Atishi's claim made in a press conference on April 2.
The BJP lodged a complaint with the EC on March 4 and the poll body within hours issued the notice to her, Atishi claimed and asked why no notices were sent to the central agencies for their action against opposition parties and leaders during elections.
"Was a notice issued to the ED when the agency arrested a sitting chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal), convener of a national party and prominent face of the opposition even after imposition of the model code of conduct for the elections," she asked.
The Delhi government minister also asked the EC why it did not send notices to Income Tax (I-T) department for freezing bank accounts of major the Congress, CPI and the CPI(M).
"The BJP-led central government is openly misusing the ED, CBI and I-T department ahead of the elections in front of the poll panel," she alleged. The AAP leader also claimed that the Election Commission did not give the party appointments over issues related to the I-T department raid at the residence of its MLA Gulab Singh on March 22.
She also alleged that the EC has taken no action on its complaints on sealing of the AAP office for four days by the Delhi Police and "objectionable" hoardings and posters of the BJP.
The EC changes chief secretaries, home secretaries and police chiefs in opposition party-ruled states before the elections, she said. But the poll panel did nothing when INDIA bloc leaders demanded changing directors of the ED, CBI, I-T department as an interim measure during the polls, she said.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva hit out at Atishi, saying she crossed "all limits of political and administrative decorum" by raising fingers on the "independence and fairness" of the Election Commission.
"Her political conduct and repeated attacks on the constitutional bodies clearly show that Atishi is a product of the school of Naxalism," he charged.
It would have been better if she, before reminding the election commissioners of T N Seshan, had asked Chief Minister Kejriwal to follow the precedent of Madan Lal Khurana and resign after being arrested in the "liquor scam", he said. Khurana, the chief minister of the BJP-led Delhi government, stepped down over a controversy related to a hawala matter in 1996.
Read More
