Delhi Lt Governor directs AAP to pay Rs 97 crore for ‘political ads’

In the latest flashpoint between the Centre and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, the Lieutenant Governor has directed the ruling party to pay Rs 97 crore for the state government ads that were allegedly used for the party’s promotion instead.

The Lt Governor’s notice comes days after the AAP ran a successful poll campaign for Delhi’s civic body earlier this month. They party, which holds power in the Delhi assembly since 2015, ended the 15-year reign of the BJP in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

‘Delhi govt’s ads were political’

Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena told Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to recover ₹97 crore from AAP in the national capital over accusations that the party published political advertisements as government ads, violating the orders of the Supreme Court (2015) and the Delhi High Court (2016), besides norms set by the court-mandated Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (2016), reported news agency ANI. The Chief Secretary has been directed to recover the money spent from Delhi government funds.

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Incidentally, the Lieutenant Governor and the AAP have sparred over multiple issues in the recent past, including the excise policy matter in which Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was named as an accused.

The AAP, on its part, has been alleging “political vendetta” by the Lieutenant Governor, who is appointed by the Central government and has control over several wings of governance in the national capital.

‘Lt Governor running parallel system of governance’

The procurement of low-floor buses by the Kejriwal government, when a nod for probe into irregularities was given by the LG, has also been a matter of contention between the Lt. Governor and the AAP government.

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Delhi the government’s ‘Red light on, Gaadi off’ recent campaign has been another issue when CM Kejriwal said that the LG was trying to hinder an initiative that was meant to tackle the air pollution issue.

Last month, accusing the Lieutenant Governor of encouraging the “recalcitrance of civil servants” towards the elected government, the AAP government told the SC that the LG’s office has “derailed” the governance of the national capital “in complete disregard of constitutional commitments to representative democracy and federalism”.

“The Lieutenant Governor is running a parallel system of governance in the NCT of Delhi by abrogating to himself the powers of an elected government,” the ruling party had told the apex court.