A group of former bureaucrats and diplomats on Thursday wrote to the Election Commission, demanding that it should withdraw recognition to the Aam Aadmi Party as its convener Arvind Kejriwal allegedly sought to induce public servants to help his outfit in poll-bound Gujarat, PTI reported.
The retired bureaucrats and diplomats said that Kejriwal, during a press conference in Rajkot on September 3, repeatedly urged public servants in the state to work in tandem with the Aam Aadmi Party to ensure its victory in the Assembly polls. The election is slated to be held by December.
Among the signatories to the letter to the poll panel are former Indian Administrative Service officers M Madan Gopal, Anand Bose, RD Kapoor, Subhash Chandra, K Sreedhar Rao and CS Khairwal and former diplomat Niranjan Desai.
“Mr Kejriwal called upon public servants, including policemen, home guards, anganwadi workers, state transport drivers and conductors and polling booth officers, to aid AAP in the upcoming state elections,” the group said in the letter to the chief election commissioner, according to The Times of India.
The former bureaucrats and diplomats accused the Aam Aadmi Party of attempting to politicise civil servants, and said that they completely disapprove of such efforts. “We reiterate that civil servants are meant to be non-partisan and serve the government and the people and execute policies adopted by the Parliament and the executive,” their letter said.
The former bureaucrats accused the Delhi chief minister of violating the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The Aam Aadmi Party has been seeking to displace the Congress as the principal rival to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat. Kejriwal has held several rallies in the state in the past few months.
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