AAP receives a notice of ₹163 Crore and is asked to pay within 10 days for political ads

This new development comes after the Lt. Governor began legal proceedings against the party led by Arvind Kejriwal, accusing the party of running political ads under the cover of official commercials.

The Aam Aadmi Party has been slapped with a notice for the recovery of ₹163.62 crore by the government of Delhi. The notice is in response to allegations that the AAP ran its political commercials under the garb of official advertisements.

Also included in the recovery notice that was distributed by the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) was a directive for the party in power in Delhi to pay the sum due within ten days.

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“In view of the above, you are requested to reimburse ₹99,31,10,053 to the State Exchequer immediately and ₹ 7.11 crore (approximately) for the remaining advertisements whose payment has not been released so far by the government, should be paid directly to the concerned agencies in 10 days from the date of issue of this notice,” the notice read.

“If the AAP convener fails to do so, all consequential legal action including attachment of the properties of the party shall be taken in time bound manner, as per the earlier order of the Delhi LG,” news agency PTI reported quoting a source.

This new development comes after the Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena launched proceedings against the party led by Arvind Kejriwal, accusing it of conducting political commercials in the garb of official advertisements. Saxena’s accusation came about a month after Saxena began the process.

In response to an order issued by the Lieutenant Governor on December 20 for the recovery of 97 crore, the party stated that the Lieutenant Governor lacks the authority to issue such orders.

The instruction given by the LG was referred to as a “new love letter” by the top spokesman for the AAP, Saurabh Bhardwaj. “The BJP is flustered that we have become a national party and wrested power from it in the MCD. LG sahab is doing everything in accordance with the BJP’s directions and that is troubling the people of Delhi. The more worried Delhi’s people are, the happier the BJP gets,” Mr Bhardwaj said.

In addition to this, he had stated that the Lt. Governor’s instructions would not be recognised by the legal system.