Kejriwal replies to EC, says charge against Delhi BJP was made in ‘public good’

Replying to an Election Commission (EC) notice on a complaint by BJP Delhi chief Satish Upadhyay, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kerjiwal said it was ‘malafide’ and motivated’. He said he had documents to support his claim of ‘conflict of interest’ with regard to the supply of electricity meters by Upadhyay’s company to Delhi discoms, adding that he did so in “public good”.

Updhayay had filed a complaint with the EC against Kejriwal accusing him of making “false, baseless and unverified allegations against him". The EC notice also sought explanation from Kejriwal for charging that BJP was trying to incite communal violence in Delhi, stating that prima facie this seemed a violation of the model code of conduct.

Denying the allegations “in toto”, Kejriwal said “the information disseminated during the press conference was based on cogent and reliable material available in public domain and ground perception among the local public at large.”

On January 14, Kejriwal had released some documents at a press conference, listing six companies owned by Upadhyay, one of which he said “installs and replaces meters for BSES.”

“Why have people who’ve been supplying meters to the discoms been made president of Delhi BJP? Is this not conflict of interest?” he said.

In his reply to the EC, the AAP chief termed the complaint against him as “a counter blast” by Upadhyay and the BJP “to distract the people by diverting attention.”

Attaching documents, including links to the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and BSES showing the list of the companies in which Upadhyay is a director as well as his company in the list of approved electricity services vendors, Kejriwal said “these are self-explanatory” and the “conflict of interest of the complainant is patently obvious.”

Denying violation of the model code of conduct, Kejriwal said the press conference was held only to raise these questions to “bring the actual situation to the knowledge of the general public”, which is part of the objective of the model code of conduct.

“In my view people and public good alone matters. Any conflict of interest with public good cannot be kept out of public eye especially when public is in process of electing its representatives,’ he told the EC.

He took a dig at Upadhyay not getting a BJP ticket to fight the Delhi Assembly elections, saying “the complainant has failed the people of Delhi. Even his own party has not fielded him at this election.”

On the notice with regard to his charge that BJP was trying to “incite communal violence”, Kejriwal said he was merely airing his views on press reports at a press conference, not a “congregation” of people.

“Further, there is no evidence anywhere to indicate any fall out thereof as alleged,” he said, requesting dismissal of the compliant and withdrawal of the notice.

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