‘CEC seeking job after retirement, made Election Commission a mess’: Arvind Kejriwal hits back after notice over Yamuna row

When asked about the ECI’s letter, Kejriwal said, “Respectfully, I want to ask the ECI why they can’t see how money and bedsheets are being distributed across the city… We told them whose house money was stashed in, but they did not see anything. The ECI is engaging in politics. Why? Because Rajiv Kumar wants a job post-retirement. I want to tell him that history will not forgive him. The mess he has made of the Election Commission, no one has managed before.”

“I know they will put me in jail in two days, let them do it. The kind of language in the letter does not suit the EC. If they want to participate in politics, contest from one seat in Delhi. There is open goondagardi, money is being distributed openly… This sort of election has never been seen anywhere in India. I will send three (bottles filled with water from the Yamuna) to them. We have 20 bottles full… They can drink it during a press conference. We will concede that we have made a mistake,” he added.

On Wednesday, in his response to the EC’s first letter asking him to explain his comments, Kejriwal cited Delhi Jal Board CEO Shilpa Shinde’s letter, which stated that the ammonia concentration in Yamuna water is 7 parts per million (ppm). An “indiscriminate discharge of industrial waste” by the Haryana government, he said, was the “root cause” of the contamination.

“It cannot be denied that safe drinking water is one of the most basic and essential requirements of any civilized society and raising an issue for the society with respect to the same — cannot be termed as committing an offence,” he wrote.