Delhi Election 2025: Will AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal face a ban on campaigning over his Yamuna ‘poisoning’ remarks?

Delhi Elections 2025: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal is likely to face a ban on campaigning in the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 over his remarks blaming the Haryana government for intentionally poisoning the Yamuna River, which supplies water to the national capital.

The Election Commission's action is expected to come after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) approached the poll panel, demanding that the former chief minister be barred from campaigning for his now-controversial remarks ahead of the Delhi Election 2025.

“Apart from being debarred from election campaigning, Kejriwal might also face a criminal case,” said a source who did not want to be named.

BJP complaint

A BJP delegation, comprising Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Bhupender Yadav, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva, and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, met all three members of the Election Commission earlier this week with the complaint. The delegation demanded that the poll panel bar Kejriwal from campaigning immediately.

The delegation also urged the Election Commission to ask Kejriwal to retract his statement and apologise for causing public panic. The BJP also called for legal action against the AAP leader.

Delhi will vote on February 5 and results will be declared on February 8. A complete ban on campaigning would mean Kejriwal cannot campaign in the remaining days leading up to the February 5 polls. The campaign for Delhi Election 2025 will end on February 3. The ban can be even for a shorter duration, like 24 hours. 

Political row

A political row erupted on Tuesday after Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the Haryana government is "poisoning" the Yamuna water. Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, slammed Kejriwal for the remarks.

A court in Haryana summoned Kejriwal while the Election Commission sought ‘proof’ from him in two letters. In first response to the poll panel, Kejriwal said he has not ‘violated any law.’ In his second response before meeting the poll panel officials, 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.   

In response to his first letter, the poll panel had said that Kejriwal's remarks, prima facie, appeared to promote disharmony. “Coming back to your response on your statement under reference, Commission has prima facie found your allegations about poising of river Yamuna as promoting disharmony and enmity between different groups, and overall public disorder and unrest even by the most sober interpretation,” the Commission says in its letter to the AAP chief.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accompanied Kejriwal to the Election Commission's office in New Delhi.

The poll panel said that it gave a ‘patient’ hearing to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal at very short notice and also received his reply to the panel's letter seeking his response to the Yamuna ‘poisoning’ controversy.