BJP’s ‘conspiracy to influence Delhi Elections’: Arvind Kejriwal answers EC’s 5 questions on Yamuna ‘poisoning’ row

Delhi Elections: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal responded to the Election Commission's letter on Friday about the Yamuna ‘poisoning’ controversy. He explained the “chronology” that prompted him to accuse the BJP-led Haryana government of “poisoning” the Yamuna river water.

Kejriwal said that it was the BJP's political conspiracy to force half of Delhi to thirst because of “poisonous” water having high ammonia to defame the AAP during the Delhi Assembly elections.

Kejriwal's letter read, “...there was a deliberate conspiracy on the part of Haryana CM, who happens to be from BJP, to influence Delhi elections by sending highly polluted waters to Delhi.”

“He knew very well that this would create artificial water scarcity in Delhi, and the blame would lie on the AAP government in Delhi. This would have rendered almost half of Delhi without water and would have created huge public misery for almost 10 million people of Delhi who would have gone without water,” Kejriwal told the Election Commission in the letter.

He said a criminal case should be filed against Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini “for attempting to cause serious miseries to the people of India's capital.”

Delhi Elections: Arvind Kejriwal answers EC's 5 questions

In its letter to Kejriwal on Thursday, the Election Commission had sought "specific" answers from AAP to five questions over its allegations against the BJP-led Haryana government.

Arvind Kejriwal, who is contesting the Delhi polls from the New Delhi seat, was asked to share details of engineers, location and methodology of detecting the “poison” by the Delhi Jal Board staff by Friday 11 am, failing which the Commission will be free to take appropriate decisions in the matter.

Kejriwal responded, saying: "In so far as your specific questions are concerned, the same are answered as follows:

1. Nature of poison found mixed:- Ammonia

2. Supporting Evidence:- Statement of CEO, DJB, dated 27.01.2025 with a table which is attached herewith.

3. Location: As per the statement of the CEO, DJB, dated 27.01.2025

4. Detection by which officer:- CEO, DJB and other officers of DJB.

5. Methodology: The same can be confirmed by the CEO, DJB and other officers of DJB.”

In his letter, Kejriwal said that the ammonia levels started increasing very sharply from January 15 onwards (around 3.2 ppm on 15 Jan) and reached 7 ppm a few days later.

“At this stage, it was felt that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of CM Haryana to influence Delhi elections by sending polluted water to Delhi with very high levels of ammonia,” Kejriwal said.

Arvind Kejriwal went to the Election Commission's office in Delhi on Friday and replied to the poll body regarding its notice to him about his “poison mixed” in Yamuna water remark.

The former Delhi chief minister went to the Election Commission's office without an appointment. Sources told news agency PTI that they accepted the meeting as a “special case” as campaigning in Delhi is at its peak.

"The Commission accepted the manner of meeting with Arvind Kejriwal today as a special case, altering its earlier schedule in view of the thick of the campaign period in Delhi and for leaving no scope for complaint for any stakeholders," an EC source said.

On Thursday, Arvind Kejriwal accused the EC and its chief election commissioner of indulging in politics over his statement. He claimed that Yamuna water supplied from Haryana to Delhi has high levels of ammonia content.

The EC served him two notices seeking a reply over his allegation that the BJP government mixed “poison” in Yamuna water for Delhi, attempting a “genocide” in the city.

Kejriwal said that he saved Delhi from an artificial water crisis to influence the polls, but the EC served him notices.