A Delhi court on Friday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it on July 16 in connection with a defamation case, reported ANI. The defamation complaint was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajiv Babbar over Kejriwal’s reported remark on the alleged tampering with voters’ list.
Kejriwal was not present in court on Friday.
However, the court granted bail to three other Aam Aadmi Party leaders – Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta, MLA Manoj Kumar and party spokesperson Atishi – who were named in the complaint, according to PTI. The court asked them to submit personal bonds of Rs 10,000 each.
Babbar, in his complaint, had accused the four leaders of harming the BJP’s reputation by claiming that the party was responsible for the deletion of voters’ names from the electoral rolls in Delhi. “All the accused made accusations against BJP in a calculated manner with the sole intention to portray a negative image of BJP in relation to the voters belonging to certain sections of society, namely, Bania, Poorvanchalis, Muslims, among others,” Babbar had said. The BJP leader claimed Kejriwal had made the statements to gain “cheap political mileage”.
On April 30, the court had granted exemption to Kejriwal and three others from appearing in court till June 7 after their advocate Mohammad Irshad said they were engaged in political events in Delhi and Haryana.
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