‘Poisoned’ meant ammonia high, says Arvind Kejriwal to EC

NEW DELHI: AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal told the Election Commission on Friday that his allegation that Haryana was mixing "poison" in the Yamuna water was made "categorically and explicitly" in context of "unprecedented and dangerously high" levels of ammonia in the raw water being supplied to Delhi and any other inference from the statement was "incorrect".
Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said the supply of "high ammonia" water from Haryana had stopped after he raised an alarm.
In a six-page reply addressed to chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar, which he handed over personally at a meeting, the former Delhi CM also accused Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini of hatching a "conspiracy" to "influence" the Feb 5 Delhi assembly polls by sending highly-polluted water to the capital and demanded that a case be registered against him.
With campaigning set to conclude on Monday, followed by polling on Wednesday, it remains to be seen if EC will act against Kejriwal immediately though in its letter to him on Thursday, it had said that it had prima facie found that his allegations "promote enmity between different groups and overall public disorder and unrest, even by the most sober interpretation".
It had also drawn attention to provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Representation of People's Act and model code of conduct cited in its Jan 28 notice to Kejriwal, raising the possibility of a criminal case being filed against him if he failed to produce factual evidence to back his statements.
This comes barely a day after Kejriwal escalated matters by criticising the EC's actions and launching a personal attack on chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar. "EC gave a patient hearing to Kejriwal as he tried to substantiate his statements on Yamuna poisoning by the Haryana government with an intent to cause genocide in Delhi," said an official
Later in the day, EC in a post on X said, "The full commission, without getting swayed by personal insinuations and offensive strategy in play, decided to examine the reply in detail and take decisions on merit."
During his meeting with the full commission, the AAP chief was accompanied by the Delhi and Punjab chief ministers, Atishi and Bhagwant Mann, respectively. Kejriwal also carried three bottles of "ammonia-mixed" water to drive home his point.
Not satisfied with his reply to the first notice, EC had asked Kejriwal on Thursday to provide details on the detection of the alleged contamination, including information on engineers and the methodology used by the Delhi Jal Board staff by Friday 11am.
In his reply, Kejriwal said the "poison" found mixed with the Yamuna water was "ammonia" and referred to DJB officials for other details.
The AAP chief said the level of ammonia in the water had started rising from around 3.2 ppm (parts per million) on Jan 15 and reached 7 ppm around Jan 26-27. He added that the CMs of Delhi and Punjab had raised the matter with Saini but he did not do anything. Kejriwal attached screenshots of Atishi's posts on X that sought an immediate response from the Haryana CM.
"It is crystal clear from the sequence of events that it is the Haryana chief minister who is at fault," said the AAP chief. "A criminal case should be registered against him for attempting to cause serious misery to the people of India's capital. If the CEC does not take action against the Haryana govt, who have been perpetrators of this above incident, you will be normalising such ghastly actions in electoral politics," Kejriwal said.
The former Delhi CM also questioned the "baffling alacrity" of the CEC in acting against him though he was "merely" raising an issue of "very high public importance" and accused him of "complete silence and inaction" over "blatant violations" of the model code of conduct by BJP functionaries.
"If the CEC continues ignoring the widespread practice of purchase of votes with cash and goods by the BJP, you will end up normalising this corrupt practice as well," he said. "The CEC, with its clear act of omission and neglect of corrupt practices by BJP, looks set to tarnish the image of India globally," he said.
"Whatever illegal punishment you may wish to impose on me under the instruction of BJP is a small price to pay and I welcome it with open arms," he said.