NEW DELHI: Delhi Power Minister Ashish Sood has warned of criminal and civil action against AAP leaders, including Leader of Opposition (LoP) Atishi, over allegations of power cuts in the national capital.
Sood accused AAP of attempting to create unrest by spreading false narratives, including claims of power outages using fake social media accounts. The controversy erupted after several AAP leaders, including Atishi and Arvind Kejriwal, retweeted posts on X (formerly Twitter) alleging power cuts in various parts of the city. In response, Sood claimed that these allegations were based on misinformation spread by fake accounts and bots aimed at destabilising the city’s peace.
“We are conducting declared outages to enhance transformer capacity ahead of summer, but they (AAP) are trying to create pressure by falsely claiming these outages are prolonged,” Sood said while addressing the Delhi Assembly. He added that the government would continue its work, despite the opposition’s attempts to disrupt it.
The power minister further accused AAP of using fake social media accounts, some with just a few followers, to falsely claim that power outages were not an issue under their government. He provided statistical evidence, stating that Delhi faced 1,21,597 power cuts lasting more than an hour last year under the previous AAP administration.
Sood also presented data showing a significant reduction in outages under the current government, stating that between February 9 and March 16, 2025, there were 2,092 power cuts, compared to 3,881 during the same period the previous year.
“There is no electricity crisis in Delhi. These outages are part of routine maintenance to ensure reliable power grids for summer,” he emphasised.
The power minister criticised Atishi for tweeting about power failure at her residence, despite a formal response issued by the government on March 24, 2025, detailing the situation.
He said city experienced 2,72,137 power cuts lasting over an hour over the past decade, averaging 75 outages per day.
AAP trying to create unrest, says minister
Ashish Sood accused AAP of attempting to create unrest by spreading false narratives, including claims of power outages using fake social media accounts. The controversy erupted after several AAP leaders retweeted posts on X alleging power cuts in various parts of the capital