AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal reached the Election Commission’s office in New Delhi on Friday to submit his reply over his “poison mixed” in Yamuna water remark. The poll panel had earlier this week sent a notice to Kejriwal and asked him to furnish an explanation on his statements by 11 am on Friday.
Kejriwal was accompanied by Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and her Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann.
Before visiting the Election Commission’s office, Kejriwal told reporters that the language of second notice hints that the poll body has already decided their action.
He alleged that the poll body is “shooting the messenger” by targeting the AAP for raising its voice.
Kejriwal claimed that there was a political conspiracy aimed at forcing half of Delhi to face a water crisis by contaminating the water with “poisonous” ammonia in order to tarnish the AAP’s image during the Delhi Assembly elections.
“I want to congratulate the people of Delhi on our success. The ammonia levels in the Yamuna, which were at 7 ppm from January 26-27, have now dropped to 2.1 ppm,” said the AAP leader.
The former Delhi Chief Minister clarified that he had not requested a meeting with the Election Commission (EC), but he was planning to visit.
On Thursday, Kejriwal accused the EC and its Chief Election Commissioner of engaging in political maneuvering over his comments. He reiterated that the Yamuna water supplied from Haryana to Delhi contained high ammonia levels.
The EC issued two notices to Kejriwal, demanding a response to his claim that the BJP government had intentionally contaminated the Yamuna water, attempting to commit a “genocide” in the city.
On Friday, Kejriwal defended his actions, stating that he had averted an engineered water crisis designed to influence the elections. However, the EC still sent him notices.
Kejriwal, who is contesting the Delhi elections from the New Delhi seat, was asked to provide details about the engineers, locations, and methods used by the Delhi Jal Board staff to detect the “poison” by 11 am Friday, or the Commission would take further action.