BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana on Thursday accused the Aam Aadmi Party and its national convener Arvind Kejriwal of using public money for ‘advertisement’ in other states.
New Delhi: BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana on Thursday accused the Aam Aadmi Party and its national convener Arvind Kejriwal of using public money for ‘advertisement’ in other states.
In a tweet, with which he tagged a personal video, Khurana said, “Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) Delhi government has sent a recovery notice of Rs 163.63 crore to AAP and its convener Arvind Kejriwal. This amount is a gross fraud on the trust of the people here. you [Arvind Kejriwal] Advertise, but who pays for it? This is the hard earned money of Delhiites, is this justice? He further tweeted, “This is the same case where you paid your lawyers to fight your case and now through this act you have openly violated the Supreme Court directive and promoted your party (at the expense of public money) in other regions. It is a clear violation of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court of the country.
In a personal video, BJP’s Delhi spokesperson said AAP should deposit the amount with the Delhi government as soon as possible and “apologise to the nation”.
Also, Read: Delhi Govt Asks AAP To Collect Rs 163.62 Crore For Political Advertisements
“I will request LG VK Saxena to issue guidelines so that such incidents do not recur in future,” he added.
The letter issued by the DIP has asked the AAP to refund Rs 163,61,88,265 (updated with penal interest on 28 December 2022) incurred on advertisements that violated Supreme Court guidelines.
The Delhi government’s Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) on Wednesday issued a recovery notice to AAP, which it said violated the guidelines on political advertisements issued by the Supreme Court and caused loss to the state exchequer.
“…The main purpose and objectives of the guidelines framed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India are to prevent misuse of government funds for projecting the image of a politician or a political party in power. Since the same has happened even after the verdict, the only way to compensate the government for the expenses incurred is to make the political parties, the main beneficiaries in the infringement proceedings. The Committee directs the Government of NCT of Delhi to assess the expenditure incurred on advertisements/advertisements bearing the name of Aam Aadmi Party on various anniversaries (i) issue of advertisements (i) outside Delhi limits. (iii) those advertisements publicized the Chief Minister’s views on events in other states and (iv) advertisements targeting the opposition. The committee further directs the Government of NCT of Delhi to recover from the Aam Aadmi Party in the state exchequer the entire expenditure incurred on the aforesaid advertisements…” the notice read.
According to sources, if AAP fails to pay, legal action will be initiated, including sealing of AAP’s office and confiscation of party assets.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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