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Atishi blasts Election Commission over show-cause notice: ‘Subsidiary organisation of BJP?’

Delhi minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi on Friday hit out at the Election Commission after it served her a show-cause notice, questioning if the poll body is a “subsidiary organisation” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The minister also claimed that the BJP “planted” the Election Commission notice in the media even before she received it on mail. “On 4 April, the BJP registered a complaint against one of my press conferences…On 5 April at 11:15 am, news channels flash that a notice had been sent to Atishi, but half an hour after the news, I got the notice in the mail. This means that the BJP first plants the Election Commission notice in the media and after that, I get the notice…My question is whether the Election Commission has become a subsidiary organisation of BJP,” Atishi said during a press briefing. Atishi questioned why the poll body did not issue notices to the central agencies after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested and bank accounts of the Congress were frozen ahead of Lok Sabha elections. “Appeal to the Election Commission to act in a non-partisan manner and not bow down to the BJP-led central government,” she added.

Delhi minister Atishi

Earlier in the day, the Election Commission issued a show-cause notice to Atishi following her claims that the BJP approached her to join their ranks through a “very close person”. She claimed that she along with three other AAP leaders - Saurabh Bharadwaj, Raghav Chadha, and Durgesh Pathak - would be next on line to be arrested by the ED if they didn't join the BJP. Following this, the Election Commission in its notice said: “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 the public forum by their leaders and in that sense, the statements made by them affect the campaign discourse.” Asking Atishi to back her statement with facts, the poll body said, “When the veracity of the statements made by you is contested then you must be able to back your statements by a factual basis.” The poll panel said it expects that there must be a "factual foundation" to the statements made by the AAP leader.