Criminal netas: AAP dumps candidate; dares Cong, BJP to do so

With its claim of clean political image suspect in the face of allegations of corruption against nine of its candidates, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) moved into damage control today by cancelling the candidature of Pritpal Singh Saluja, its nominee from Rajouri Garden. Saluja, according to the party, had a criminal case registered against him in Lucknow in connection with domestic violence and dowry demand in 2012. He did not mention this while seeking nomination. “We cancel the candidature on two counts. First of all, we always said that we will not give ticket to any person who has a criminal case against him or any of his immediate family members. Secondly, it’s matter of violence against women, which we strongly condemn,” said Yogendra Yadav, a senior party leader.[caption id=“attachment_1251513” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Removing tainted candidates. AFP[/caption] Calling this a historic move, AAP leaders challenged the Congress and the BJP to do something similar. “Can they do the same? We have been true to our commitment to clean politics and the promise we made that no person with a criminal case will be given a candidature,” said Yadav. The party claimed that it’s their transparent policies that brought this matter to the fore. “We uploaded all the details of our candidate on our website. When the victim in Saluja’s case noticed that he didn’t declare the pending case against him, she got in touch with us. We took the decision as soon as the valid documents were presented before us,” said a spokesperson addressing the media. Even though the party has cancelled Saluja’s candidature, confusion remains as to what would happen to the votes cast on Saluja. As per the Election Commission guidelines, once the deadline for withdrawing nominations is over no candidature can be cancelled. In such a situation Saluja cannot be removed as candidate. “We will do an extensive campaign to reach out to the voters in the Rajouri Garden constituency,” said senior AAP leader Prashant Bhushan. Without the party’s support Saluja would be considered an independent candidate now. The party refused to comment whether it would take any internal action against the candidate. Saluja was not available for comment. Stung by the recent video purportedly showing AAP leaders indulging in corrupt practices, the party said it would appeal to the Election Commission of India to issue a notice to stop the release of any kind of politically motivated sting operations. Raju parulekar, a political activist from Maharashtra, had threatened to release four such videos implicating AAP leaders. “Parulekar, who is an MNS supporter, has threatened that he will release four videos on four days right before the election. We will appeal to the EC to stop the circulation of such malicious content against us,” said Bhusan. Even though this demand comes across as undemocratic, there is no scope for doubt that after today’s move the AAP has taken the fight to the BJP and the Congress camps. Both the bigger parties have many tainted candidates. A recent report published by Association for Democratic Reforms has mentioned that 21 percent of Congress candidates and 46 percent of BJP candidates have declared criminal cases against them.