Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which got a jolt following the accusation of raising funds through illegal means by its leaders, has taken a defensive stand. On Friday, it ruled out withdrawal of candidature of any party nominee from Delhi Assembly polls until proven guilty. Prominent party member Yogendra Singh Yadav said after examining the CD of sting operation showing its leaders purportedly raising funds, it has been found that no case is made for action. While trying to ridicule the allegations, he further said it (exposé) depicts the anxiety of other political parties, including Congress and BJP and rise of AAP.
Yadav also said party has also decided to take legal action against the media house, which had conducted the sting. “It (sting operation) is mischievous act against the tenets of journalism. Timing of the string points out at political conspiracy given the elections in Delhi and violation of code of conduct. We will move the court on Monday to criminal defamation,” the party leader declared.
He also added that AAP will also sue TV channels, which ran the video without verifying the authenticity and evidence pertaining to involvement of his party leaders. Yadav, flanked by the candidates whose names had figured in the CD and party leaders Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia, Prashant Bhushan, Shazia Ilmi, Pankaj Gupta, also said that we have complained to the Election Commission to probe the footage and requested them to finish the investigation as soon as possible. “Till the time the probe is over we cannot take any action against anyone,” said Yadav addressing a press conference on Friday evening.
After the release of the footage CD, the party launched a probe into the allegation by an internal panel comprises of Yadav and Sanjay Singh. The party had demanded unedited CD from the portal which carried out the sting to take appropriate action. However their demand to access raw footage was turned down by the media house Media Sarkar and it submitted it to the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Office on Friday.
“After going through the edited CD several times, we have found lapses at many places which could only be verified by viewing the unedited footage. If we take any action without going through the unedited CD, it would be against natural justice. Hence, we have decided not to withdraw any candidates,” Yadav said, supporting the candidates wholeheartedly.
“I won’t be surprised if more such things come to the fore in the coming days, when only a few days for elections are left,” he said. The party in its letter to the Election Commission has requested for immediate ban on the telecast of the CD. It also said the party will also complain to the Press Council of India and News Broadcasters Association.
Media Sarkar submits raw footage to ECI, CEO
Media Sarkar, the organisation which conducted the sting op submitted the raw footage to the ECI and the CEO on Friday evening. The move by the mediahouse, which refused to hand over the footage to AAP, came after election authorities took suo-motu cognisance and issued letters to the mediahouse seeking the complete raw footage to probe the matter. Media Sarkar’s head, Anuranjan Jha, whose sting op has put AAP leaders in a fix, handed over CDs of the raw footage to ECI early on Friday evening, which has started investigations. The footage is 15 hours long. The consulting editor of the mediahouse, Abhiranjan Kumar, submitted the CDs to the Chief Electoral Officer, who in a letter had asked the mediahouse to submit the footage by 5 pm.