Deputy Delhi Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday received a notice from East Delhi Returning Officer K. Mahesh for tweeting about the religion and caste of Aam Aadmi Party’s East Delhi candidate Atishi.
Mr. Sisodia had on April 27, tweeted, that he was saddened by the Congress and BJP members spreading lies about Atishi’s religion, when in fact she was a “Rajputani” and her full name was “Atishi Singh”.
Controversy over name
Ms. Atishis’s name had drawn controversy when she dropped her legal last name ‘Marlena’ before the start of campaigning.
Her legal name, filed in her affidavits however continues to be ‘Atishi Marlena’.
The notice was sent following a complaint jointly filed by BJP unit members Subhash Sachdeva, Aarti Mehra and R.P. Singh.
The Returning Officer stated that the tweet prima facie attracts Section 123 of the Representation of Peoples Act which deals with promoting the prospects of a particular candidate through the use of religion, caste, language, race or community.
Poll violation
It also states that the tweet appears to be in violation of the model code of conduct manual which prohibits parties or candidates from engaging in activities that aggravates existing differences, create mutual hatred between communities or cause tension between castes or communities.
Mr. Sisodia has been given time till Wednesday to respond.