A city court on Thursday issued notice to Chief Minister Atishi and AAP MP Sanjay Singh on a criminal defamation complaint filed by former Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal said the matter was at the stage of cognizance, and as per law, Atishi and Singh were to be given the opportunity to be heard.The judge directed the AAP leaders to file a reply by January 27, when the court will further hear the matter. "The matter is at the stage of cognizance, and in compliance with the first proviso to Section 223 BNSS, the proposed accused persons are to be given the opportunity to be heard. Accordingly... Let notice be issued to both proposed accused persons, returnable for January 27, 2025," the judge said.According to the defamation complaint, Atishi and Singh "deliberately caused harm to the goodwill of Dikshit," "tarnished his image," and "defamed" him.The complaint claimed that at a press conference on December 26, Atishi and Singh accused Dikshit of having colluded with the BJP to receive crores of rupees and to get the campaign for the Delhi Assembly election funded by the saffron party.Dikshit further alleged that Atishi, with Sanjay Singh's concurrence, publicly claimed that Congress and Dikshit were working with the BJP to undermine AAP's electoral chances. The complaint highlighted that Atishi shared the press conference's live proceedings on her X handle (formerly Twitter) with the caption, "BJP is helping Congress in the Delhi election," a post that has reportedly garnered over 30,000 views.The widespread coverage of these statements by national newspapers and their online circulation was cited as further evidence of reputational harm. The complaint alleged that these remarks were part of a calculated effort to malign Dikshit and the Indian National Congress (INC).

Dikshit is contesting the Delhi Assembly polls against former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat.