Crores spent on ads, 'AAP pay karo' says government panel

A Central government-appointed Committee on Saturday came down heavily on AAP government in Delhi, saying it had splurged exchequer’s money on advertisements projecting CM Arvi­nd Kejriwal and his party in violation of Supreme Court guidelines and asked the ruling party to reimburse it

New Delhi: A Central government-appointed Committee on Saturday came down heavily on AAP government in Delhi, saying it had splurged exchequer’s money on advertisements projecting CM Arvi­nd Kejriwal and his party in violation of Supreme Court guidelines and asked the ruling party to reimburse it.

The three-member committee, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner BB Tandon, had been constituted by the I&B ministry on directions of SC to address issues related to Content Regulation in Government Advertising.

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The committee had received a complaint from Congress leader Ajay Maken accusing the AAP government in Delhi of splurging public money on advertisements.

The violations include “outstation advertisements, false/ misleading advertisements, advertisements for self-glorification and to target political opponents, advertisements against media, advertisements mentioning the party in power by name and also advertisements issued on incidents occurring in other states”.

The panel also comprised adman Piyush Pandey and journalist Rajat Sharma.

Meanwhile, Congress demanded that an FIR be lodged by the CBI against persons in the Aam Aadmi Party government responsible for siphoning off public funds for private purposes. Maken alleged, “During 2014, under President’s Rule, the total amount spent on advertising was R14.5 crore. The next year, the Arvind Kejriwal government spent Rs 127. In the current fiscal it's Rs 207.73 crore.”

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