'Yamuna poisoning' remark: Unsatisfied with Kejriwal’s reply, EC directs AAP convener to respond again

The Election Commission on Thursday wrote a letter to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal and asked him to respond again on his allegations that Haryana was releasing “poisonous” water into the Yamuna as the latter failed to provide evidence in his letter.

Not satisfied with his reply, the EC asked him to provide factual evidence with specific and pointed response to type, quantity, nature and manner of poisoning of the Yamuna.

“Needless to add that no factual and legal matrix with evidence has been provided in your statement,” the EC letter read. The Commission asked Kejriwal to furnish a response by 11 am on Friday, failing which it would take appropriate decision in the matter.

The Aam Aadmi Party entered into a major political slugfest with the BJP three days back after Kejriwal alleged that the BJP-ruled “Haryana was releasing poison into the Yamuna” and “there was an attempt of genocide in the Capital.” Delhi CM Atishi and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann too met the Chief Election Commissioner alleging a deliberate act of “water terrorism” by the Haryana Government.

Following the meetings, the EC, in a letter to Kejriwal, said there must be a factual foundation to his allegations. In the letter, the poll panel flagged legal provisions that could invite up to three-year imprisonment for “mischievous” statements against national integration and public harmony and asked him to submit a response.

Kejriwal in his reply has cited a letter of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO which revealed that Yamuna water contains 7 ppm of ammonia—700% above the permissible limit—posing a severe public health risk. As per Kejriwal, the DJB CEO’s letter highlighted the persistent and alarming increase in the ammonia in the raw water being supplied to Delhi.

He also told the Election Commission that his remarks accusing the Haryana Government of poisoning the Yamuna river were made in the context of an urgent and alarming public health crisis concerning the deteriorating quality of drinking water in Delhi.

“Unsatisfied” with his response, the EC said Kejriwal was entirely silent on his public and widely circulated statement accusing the Haryana Government of poisoning the Yamuna river.

”You have chosen to justify your statement under question on high ammonia content in the river Yamuna in Delhi instead of clarifying factual and legal matrix of your statement,” the EC’s letter to Kejriwal read.

The Commission has prima facie found that the AAP convener’s allegations about the poisoning of the Yamuna river as promoting disharmony and enmity between different groups, and overall public disorder and unrest even by the most sober interpretation.

The EC gave Kejriwal fresh opportunity to file a “specific and pointed reply” to his statement without mixing it with an ongoing, long-standing, legally governed issue of increased ammonia levels.

The Commission has posed five questions to Kejriwal:

1. What kind of poison was mixed by the Government of Haryana in the Yamuna river

2. The supporting evidence about quantity, nature and manner of detecting the poison which could have caused genocide

3. The location where poison was detected

4. Which engineers of Delhi Jal Board detected it and how and where

5. What methodology those engineers employed in stopping poisonous water from entering NCT of Delhi