The Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) has issued a notice to the National Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Arvind Kejriwal, to pay up to Rs 164 crores within days. As per news agency ANI, the development came days after Delhi Lieutenant General (LG) VK Saxena directed the Chief Secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from AAP that it allegedly spent on the political advertisements published in the guise of government advertisements during the financial year 2015-2016.
This comes after Delhi LG VK Saxena directed the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the AAP for political advertisements published in the guise of government advertisements during 2015-2016.
— ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2023
It is unclear if more recovery orders will be issued for the financial years 2016-2017 to 2022-23 or not. As per reports, if AAP fails to pay the money, legal action will be taken per LG’s orders. The properties owned by the party can be attached for recovery as part of the legal action as per the law.
AAP accused of spending taxpayers’ money on political advertisements
From time to time, AAP has been accused of spending taxpayers’ money on political advertisements. Not only in Delhi but similar spending was also seen in the case of the AAP-led Punjab government as well. Before Gujarat Assembly Elections, OpIndia reported that Punjab Government paid for Facebook ads targeting audiences from Gujarat. Over one crore was spent on such ads.
