The Delhi Election Commission issued another show-cause notice to Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal for inconsistency in the election expenses shown by him and as maintained by the poll authorities.
"The show cause notice was issued on Thursday by the concerned Returning Officer to Kejriwal stating that expenses shown by him in connection with a musical event held at Jantar Mantar does not match with the expenses recorded by the Delhi EC in its shadow register," a senior election official told CNN-IBN.
The poll officials have accused the AAP leader of exceeding the expenditure limit of ₹14 lakh for each candidate.
In the candidate's account, Kejriwal, who is contesting from New Delhi constituency, had reportedly shown an expenditure of ₹3 lakh, while the shadow expenditure register showed an amount of ₹16 lakh under his name.
The notice, which says that ₹22 lakh were spent on the 'Jeet Ki Gunj' concert at Jantar Manta on 23 November, was also sent to senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
"The musical event at Jantar Mantar was organised on behalf of the party and thus the expenses should have been included in the party's account and not in the candidate's (Kejriwal) account. This is just not fair," Sisodia told the tv news channel.
However, party national secretary Pankaj Gupta outrightly rejected the amount, suggested by the Delhi electoral office, spent on the concert. "The rock concert didn't cost us Rs. 22 lakh. They were AAP supporters and did it for free," he told HT.
Famous Bollywood artists and celebrities, including music director Vishal Dadlani, singer Rabbi Shergill, actor Chang, singer Jassi, attended the concert in New Delhi.
Kejriwal had denied claims by rival parties that the artists were paid to perform. "No artist came here for money. This is a party of the youth," he had said. Around 1,200 AAP supporters attended the musical concert.
The one-year-old party AAP made its debut in the Delhi Assembly elections on 4 December, the results of which will be announced on Sunday. On Thursday, the Delhi electoral office had announced that maximum number of FIRs, regarding violations of Model Code of Conduct, were against AAP.
As per exit polls conducted by various television news channels, the Kejriwal-led party is set to score significant number of seats, from 10-16, in the Vidhan Sabha.
