‘If we had spent like BJP, we would have won’: AAP Goa chief on ED claim that tainted money was used in assembly polls

“None of the candidates received any money for elections… Whatever we spent was from our own pockets and accounted for,” AAP Goa president Amit Palekar told The Indian Express. “In fact, the BJP spent a huge amount of money during polls. Our only drawback was that we did not have money… yet we were able to win in two constituencies. If we had spent money like the BJP, we would have won the election.”

On reports that some candidates from the party, who contested the elections, had recorded statements with the ED, Palekar said, “There is no truth to these allegations. There is no question of anyone from the party recording any such statement with the ED as no one, including myself, received any funds from the party. We fought the polls on 39 seats and I am in touch with most of the candidates. Since the polls, a couple of them have joined the BJP.”

AAP had drawn a blank in the 2017 Assembly elections in its first foray in the coastal state. It first made inroads in Goa in 2020, when it won a zila panchayat seat in Benaulim. In the 2022 Assembly polls, AAP won two seats in South Goa – Velim and Benaulim.

“I have not been approached by the ED. The ED has become a stooge of the BJP. This is nothing short of vindictive politics. I was not involved in any decision-making at the time. Soon after joining the party, I was made the chief ministerial candidate and had no role to play in any financial or other matter as the party had a convenor for Goa and I was just the candidate,” Palekar, a lawyer and activist, said.

Cruz Silva, the AAP MLA from Velim, told The Indian Express, “No one from the ED has approached or contacted me. I am not aware of any such probe by the ED regarding funding for the assembly elections. This is being done to divert attention of the people from the electoral bonds issue.”

A senior member of the AAP, requesting anonymity, said that a team of ED officials had come to Goa a few months ago to probe the allegations that alleged kickbacks from the excise policy had been routed to fund assembly elections in the state. “No one from the party recorded any statement as is being alleged. However, it is not difficult for the agency to get a statement… from a former disgruntled member of the party,” he claimed.

Sudesh Mayekar, who contested assembly elections in 2022 for AAP from Calangute constituency and joined the BJP two months after the polls, said, “I have not been contacted by the ED officials. At the time of campaigning (when I was in AAP), I did not get a single rupee from the party’s fund for the elections. I spent everything from my pocket.”