AAP notice to founder member who alleged ticket on sale

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has given Paviter Singh, its national council member from Punjab, a week to show cause why he should not be removed from the party for accusing its leaders of putting the election candidatures on sale.

He had accused AAP state affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh and national organisational secretary Durgesh Pathak of asking him to pay Rs 50 lakh for an assembly poll ticket for his wife.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, AAP legal wing in-charge Himmat Singh Shergill said the party will also file criminal and civil defamation against Paviter Singh and his wife, Lakhvinder Kaur.

Shergill said that Paviter had called a press conference on Wednesday as part of a political conspiracy and made allegations without any audio or video proof.

“The onus of proving the charges is on him now,” said Shergill. Addressing the media in Amritsar on Thursday, Sanjay Singh said he was “shocked that a party member could stoop to this level just because his wife was denied ticket”. “If Paviter Singh can come up with any proof that I asked anyone for even a single rupee, I will quit politics. We are open to any probe,” he said.

Sanjay Singh said anyone from the public or media in Punjab was welcome to probe the manner in which tickets for the assembly elections were being finalised. “Our working is like an open book. We have nothing to hide because we are from a party that believes in honesty and transparency.”

Read: Man who ‘blackmailed’ VK Singh’s wife wanted Punjab poll ticket: AAP