‘Political ads’: AAP asked to pay 164 crore in 10 days, or else…:Details  

Delhi government-urn Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to pay Rs.163 crore spent by the party on political advertisements within 10 days. The DIP cited the AAP violated the Supreme Court’s guidelines.

The development comes nearly a month after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena directed the chief secretary to recover ₹97 crore from the AAP for political advertisements it published in the guise of government advertisements.

Funds mostly spent outside of Delhi

The DIP’s notice is related to funds that the AAP spent on political advertisements, primarily published outside Delhi. The total amount of Rs. 163.62cr sought from the AAP includes a Rs. 99.31cr principal amount (spent till March 2017) and a Rs. 64.31cr interest. The DIP also warned the AAP headquarters would be sealed if the Arvind Kejriwal-led party doesn’t deposit the money within 10 days. The notice was issued on Wednesday, just weeks after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, on December 20, directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to recover Rs. 97 crore the party spent on political ads in violation of the SC guidelines. Notably, Saxena’s December 20 order cited a Centre-appointed panel’s findings, which accused the Delhi government of misusing funds.

Tension between AAP, L-G escalates 

The Delhi lieutenant governor earlier directed legal action against the AAP, including the attachment of its properties, if it doesn’t deposit the said amount. The L-G has ordered a review of the AAP’s advertisements published after 2019. Meanwhile, there has been no immediate response from the party over the DIP notice, which has escalated the feud between the AAP government and Saxena in Delhi.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged: “The BJP has, over the last 7 years, been unconstitutionally exercising control over the city’s bureaucracy through the LG. Today, Alice Vaz, an IAS officer, is threatening Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to pay Rs. 163 crore under pressure from the BJP.”

“Instead of ensuring quality work for the betterment of the citizens of Delhi, the BJP is using the city’s bureaucracy to target AAP government ministers. All this is being done by practising unconstitutional control over officers. The BJP is forcing bureaucrats to write letters against the Chief Minister through its control over them,” he added.

In December, AAP National Spokesperson and MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj dismissed Saxena’s order concerning the party’s advertisements as illegal and claimed he didn’t have the authority to recover the funds. “The order has no legal value. All states ruled by the BJP ruled states…and Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have also been publishing advertisements of their schemes in newspapers in Delhi,” said Bharadwaj.

On its part, the AAP’s National Secretary Pankaj Gupta wrote to R Alice Vaz, secretary, Information & Publicity, seeking copies of advertisements whose cost the department was seeking to recover.

-INDIA NEWS STREAM