Delhi minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Atishi on Friday hit out on the Election Commission after it served her a show-cause notice, questioning if the ballot physique is a “subsidiary organisation” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The minister additionally claimed that the BJP “planted” the Election Commission discover within the media even earlier than she obtained 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 mentioned throughout a press briefing.

Atishi questioned why the ballot physique didn’t concern notices to the central businesses after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested and financial institution accounts of the Congress have been frozen forward 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.

Earlier within the day, the Election Commission issued a show-cause discover to Atishi following her claims that the BJP approached her to hitch their ranks by means of a “very close person”. She claimed that she together with three different AAP leaders – Saurabh Bharadwaj, Raghav Chadha, and Durgesh Pathak – can be subsequent on line to be arrested by the ED in the event that they did not be a part of the BJP.

Following this, the Election Commission in its notice mentioned: “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 again her assertion with details, the ballot physique mentioned, “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 ballot panel mentioned it expects that there should be a “factual foundation” to the statements made by the AAP chief.

(With inputs from businesses)