A house bought by BJP leader Arun Jaitley, contesting Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar, today became a centre of a row, with his Congress rival Amarinder Singh filing a complaint with the Election Commission, calling the purchase as "part of his election campaign".
Amarinder reasoned that the move of purchasing the house by Jaitley in Amritsar last week is aimed at garnering support from the people as they have been considering the saffron leader as an "outsider".
The complaint filed through Amarinder's Election Agent, says, "The said house has been purchased by Shri Arun Jaitley as part of his election campaign, in what he perceives is a fulfillment of a promise made during his campaign speeches to the electorate of Amritsar".
Jaitley is fighting his maiden Lok Sabha polls and is pitted against Amarinder, the Congress MLA from Patiala, and former chief minister of the state. The complaint has been forwarded to the Chief Election Commissioner, with copies to other poll officials including Punjab's Chief Electoral Officer.
"It is a matter of public knowledge that in his election campaign speeches in Amritsar and press releases by his campaign office, Arun Jaitley has consistently represented to the electorate of Amritsar that he is not an 'outsider' and in order to remove this impression with prospective voters he has also been promising the people of Amritsar that he will buy a house in Amritsar and will set up residence in Amritsar.
He has now therefore purchased such a house in Amritsar," it said. The complaint further says, "The house has been purchased as an integral part of his campaign efforts and strategy to establish to the electorate of Amritsar that he is not 'an outsider' and so this ought not to be an impediment in their mind should they choose to vote for him".
It points out that the party symbols, flags and other material being affixed to such house would show that it has been specifically purchased and is being used for such election purpose and campaign.
Suggesting that the actual cost of the house should be much more than Rs one crore, it says, this 340 square yard, five-bedroom house in Green Avenue colony, which is one of the posh colonies of Amritsar, merits some verification as the market value may be many times more.
The poll body has also been requested that Jaitley may be asked to produce before it the registry/sale deed or other documents and information with regards to the purchase of the house.
Referring to the EC rules, it says, "...such expenditure of the purchase of this house and its running expenses be reflected in the day-to-day account expense register maintained by Shri Arun Jaitley". It further says that the failure to do so was an election offence under the rules.
It also refers to the Section 77(3) read with Rule 99 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, which provides that the maximum election expenditure which can be spent by a candidate is Rs 70,00,000 and violation of this would amount to a corrupt practice under Section123(6) of The Representation of People Act 1951.
"If Shri Arun Jaitley is admitting in public domain that he has purchased this house for Rs one crore then he is, by admission already in breach of the Section, consequences thereof must follow and no further campaign/election expenses can take place/be permitted," it adds.
Jaitley had on Sunday stressed that he would not indulge in "tu-tu, mein mein (squabbling)" politics of his Congress rival and focus on a positive agenda instead.
On his house purchase, Jaitley while taking a jibe at Amarinder had said, "He (Amarinder) advised me to buy a house on the Indian side of the border (Amritsar is a border town and is located close to the Indo-Pak border). Now that I have one, I advise Captain Sahab (Amarinder) not to buy a house on the other side of the border".
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