AMRITSAR: Three days after the Aam Aadmi Party released a Dalit-specific manifesto, the party is under the Punjab Election Commission scanner, with the agency taking a note of the "caste-based" politics. Chief Electoral Officer VK Singh said he had asked the party to submit two copies of its Dalit manifesto. "We had sent an advisory to all political parties to submit copies of their manifesto to the commission. AAP has failed to do so. I will go through the manifesto and see what is to be done next," he said.
Sources said the EC had taken note of the AAP appealing to particular caste to gain votes. Party convener and New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had released a 19-point Dalit manifesto in Goraya, and had also announced that the party's deputy chief minister, if it won the state assembly elections, would be a Dalit. "The uplift of the Dalit community is a must for the progress of Punjab and once voted to power, the party would take special care of the Dalit community in the state," he had said. Official sources said the party could land in trouble as para 3.2 of Chapter VII of Appendix XV of code of conduct states, "There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, churches, temples or other places of worship shall not be used as forum for election propaganda."
AAP secretary Gulshan Chhabra said they had received the EC notice, and added, "We will submit copies of our manifesto to the commission soon." Meanwhile, Kejriwal has declared he would "drag" Punjab cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia "by his collar" to jail for his alleged role in a multi-million rupee drug racket in the region. Addressing a rally in Amritsar, Kejri said Majithia had "played with the youth of Punjab by unleashing narco-terrorism in the state."
