The Election Commission of India warned the Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday with action for “prima facie failing” to follow its transparency guidelines. The ECI has issued a show-cause notice to AAP in which it blamed the AAP for showing money received from hawala operators as “voluntary donations”. This show-cause notice will further harm the image of AAP which has been struggling to reclaim its image in Delhi after the exodus of top leaders from the party. The ECI has asked AAP to respond to the served notice within a 20 day period, failing which it will look on the case on the basis of information the ECI has. The Central Board of Direct Taxes is also likely to get involved in this matter if the party fails to respond within 20 days. The drama politics of Arvind Kejriwal and his ilk is unlikely to work this time as consorting with hawala operators is a serious crime and the ECI is not under direct control of the central government.
The ECI has the authority under Rule 16 A of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) ordered to suspend or withdraw recognition of a recognised political party, AAP is a recognised state party in Delhi and the withdrawal of its recognition could spell doom for it. According to the notice issued to AAP there have been discrepancies in the original contribution report filed for Financial Year 2014-15, which was received on September 30, 2015 by the central agencies. A revised report for the FY 2014-15 was later on submitted on March 20, 2017 which showed a huge difference in the number of contributions received and the amount too. The notice read, “The original report contains a list of 2,696 donors with the total donations amounting to Rs 37,45,44,618 and the revised contribution report shows the total amount as Rs 37,60,62,631 received from 8,264 donors.”
The office of the CBDT chairman had submitted a report in this regard to the ECI in 2018 which alleged “concealment of donations received by the AAP” during FY 2014-15. The bank account of the AAP, according to the contents of the notice had received total credits of Rs 67.67 crore which included Rs 64.44 crore received from donations which were in excess of Rs 20,001. The notice goes on to add, “However, the party has disclosed total income of Rs 54.15 crore from donations in its audited accounts for the year. Therefore, it has been held by the assessing officer that Rs 13.16 crore have not been accounted for by the party and these donations have been held to be from unknown sources.”
There is also a mention of hawala dealers made in the notice which claims that AAP had taken “accommodation entries from hawala operators to the tune of Rs 2 crore.” This amount allegedly received from hawala sources have been shown by the party wrongly as a ‘voluntary donations’ in the revised disclosure form submitted in 2018. Arvind Kejriwal led party has also been accused by the EC of making “wrong disclosures” at the official website of the party and had to the poll panel under Section 29C of the Representation of the People Act. The EC notice has a detailed analysis of how the party changed its contribution report once the correctness of the original was questioned. “In conclusion, it is stated that its disclosures to the Election Commission in the form of the contribution report are incorrect,” the EC notice ends with this statement in the notice issued to AAP, a storm is waiting for Arvind Kejriwal and his remaining ilk who have chosen to stick with the suspicious leader from AAP, and this one will be very difficult to evade.