After 'thali scam', Kejriwal now faces allegations of Rs 1-cr 'samosa scam'

April 11, 2017

New Delhi, Apr 11: Ahead of the MCD polls in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is once again in the line of fire of the BJP.

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Delhi BJP's official spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga has put out posters in the city alleging that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has spent over Rs one crore of public money on tea and samosas in the last 18 months.

The BJP has reportedly found out about the splurge by posting a query to the government under the Right to Information Act.

The 'samosa scam' comes days after Vijendra Gupta, the leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly, held a press conference to allege that the AAP government had squandered public funds on lunches at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence last year that cost a whopping Rs 13,000 per person.

Demanding the government’s resignation, Gupta, alleged that the Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC) had organised two lunch parties last year on 11 and 12 February for 50 and 30 persons respectively which cost over Rs11 lakh.

Union minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal termed the alleged expenditure “mind boggling”. “The government is a custodian of public funds entrusted to it by tax payers in the form of exchequer. But Kejriwal and his party have been misusing these funds for the last two years for its political needs and purposes,” Goyal said.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia denied the allegations saying he had never cleared the file for the expense which was sent to him. “The so-called food bill of Rs 13,000 was sent to me by officers for clearance a year back, but I never approved them. The files have been with the then LG Najeeb Jung’s office for the past six months. It seems the LG’s office has leaked it now under pressure from the BJP,” he alleged.

The permissible limit under financial rules is Rs1,250 per person for hosting a lunch in non-five star hotels, he said. “No codal formalities or financial rules were followed before placing the orders. Two bills were raised by DTTDC for a total amount of Rs 11,04,357,” Gupta said, showing the copies of the bills in a press conference.

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March 27,2024

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The Enforcement Directorate has filed a money laundering case against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan, her IT company and some others to probe a case of alleged illegal payments made by a private mineral firm to her and the company, official sources said Wednesday.

The agency has registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is expected to summon the people involved, the sources said.

The ED case has been booked after taking cognisance of a complaint filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), an investigative arm of the Union corporate affairs ministry, they said.

The case stems from an Income Tax Department investigation that alleged that a private company called Cochin Minerals And Rutile Ltd (CMRL), made an illegal payment of Rs 1.72 crore to Veena's company-- Exalogic Solutions-- during 2018 to 2019, even though the IT firm had not provided any service to the company.

The Karnataka High Court had last month dismissed a plea filed by Exalogic Solutions against the probe initiated by the SFIO.

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March 16,2024

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New Delhi: The 2024 general election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases from April 19, Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said today, announcing the largest democratic exercise in the world. Results will be announced on June 4.

The seven phases: 
April 19
April 26
May 7
May 13
May 20
May 25
June 1

Simultaneous election for Lok Sabha and assembly will be held in four states -- Sikkim, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra.  

By-elections will also be held for 26 assembly seats across multiple states, including Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

Mr Kumar, announcing the dates, sent out a strong message on fake news on social media, saying political parties should ensure responsible social media behaviour -- "verify before you amplify".

"Fake news will be dealt with severely as per existent laws.. Section 79 (3)(B) of the IT Act empowers nodal officers in each state to remove unlawful content," he said.

The other strong message was on violation of model code in terms of hate speeches. "There should be issue-based campaign, no hate speeches, no speeches along caste or religious lines, no criticism of anyone's personal lives," he said.

The media must clarify when they carry political adverts, those cannot masquerade as news, he said. Individual messages regarding this would be sent to the candidates, he added.

The commission has employed 2,100 advisors to keep an eye on these issues and strong action will be taken regarding this, he said.

Voters above the age of 85 years and persons with disabilities, with 40 per cent disability can vote from home, Mr Kumar said. Around 82 lakh voter are above the age of 85, he said.

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March 17,2024

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New Delhi: The Election Commission on Sunday made public fresh data on electoral bonds, which it had submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and was later asked to put it in public domain.

These details are believed to be pertaining to the period before April 12, 2019. Electoral bond details after this date was made public by the poll panel last week.

The BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.5 crore; maximum Rs 2,555 crore received in 2019-20, as per the EC data.

The Trinamool Congress received Rs 1,397 crore through electoral bonds, second largest recipient after BJP, as per the EC data.

On the other hand, the Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.

DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including Rs 509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming.

BJD encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 944.5 crore, YSR Congress Rs 442.8 crore, TDP Rs 181.35 crore.

Political parties had filed data on electoral bonds in sealed cover as directed by the Supreme Court's interim order dated April 12, 2019, the poll panel said in a statement.

"Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court's order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website," EC said.

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