The Election Commission (EC) has threatened the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with action for failure to adhere to its transparency guidelines. It said there were several discrepancies in the party’s contribution report for financial year 2014-15 which had been brought out in the assessment order of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

The EC said in a statement it has given AAP 20 days to reply, failing which the matter will be decided on merits based on information available on record.

In January this year the CBDT Chairman had sent a report to the EC about the party allegedly concealing donations it had received in 2014-15, having entries from hawala dealers and incorrect disclosures on its website and to the EC.

The CBDT communication stated that the AAP bank account had recorded a total credit of ₹67.67 crore including ₹64.44 crore from donations in excess of ₹20,000. However, the party disclosed a total income of ₹54.15 crore from donations in its audited accounts for the year. The letter added that the Assessing Officer held that ₹13.16 crore had not been accounted for by the party and those donations had been held to be from unknown sources.

The report also stated that the party had taken accommodation entries from hawala operators to the tune of ₹2 crore and wrongly disclosed them as voluntary donations.

The report further said AAP had made wrong disclosures on its official website and also furnished incorrect information under various sections of the Representation of the People’s Act.

AAP submitted the original contribution report for 2014-15 and later submitted a revised report, the Commission said in the statement. While the original report contained a list of 2,696 donors with total donations amounting to ₹37.45 crore, the revised contribution report showed a total amount of ₹37.61 crore received from 8,264 donors.

AAP claims harassment

Late in the evening, AAP said it has explained each and every “misinterpretation” and so called “difference of ₹13 crore” as alleged by the CBDT in its appeal.

“The appeal is pending. We will also explain each and every detail to the Election Commission of India. We firmly believe that we can be harassed by agencies but ultimately truth will triumph,” the AAP statement added.

In fact, the amount of donations in the original contribution report were also wrongly mentioned in the notice, said the party. “Even bank transfers between different State units of the Aam Aadmi Party have been treated by them as fresh donations,” it added.

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