CHANDIGARH: Calling Delhi Chief Minister and National Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kerjiwal a trickster, Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu said the AAP’s Chief Ministerial face survey was a 'scam' and a violation of the model code of conduct and hence they had complained to the Election Commission (EC).
PPCC President Navjot Singh Sidhu said the AAP launched a private number to host the 'fake' contest to elect their CM candidate by popular vote. "A private line was launched to receive and record responses. They allegedly announced the CM candidate by popular vote of 21,59,475 responses received within a span of four days whereas the population of state of Punjab is over two crores. The mobile
number used for the survey was a normal number, not a commercial one. A normal mobile number cannot record 21 lakh calls and SMS in four days," he said.
Sidhu said, "To even believe they received such responses, the math of it doesn't add up. In general circumstances, the toll free number can still hold some load, however, there is no way a private number can hold so many responses. Simple logic is, let's assume they were receiving responses 24x7, then on an average they would have received and recorded 8 to 10 responses per second which is not humanly possible. On a normal number (as launched by the AAP), it can take a team of more than 2,000 people and at least Rs 25 to 30 crore of expenses to do this exercise."
"As per the calculation, if a call took a minimum of 15 seconds, then in one day the AAP can attend or record only approximately 5760 responses. Similarly, in four days there can be a total of 23,040 responses/calls at best, keeping in mind they did not have any automated response system either which can expedite response clocking," he said.
Sidhu said, "I won’t let anyone trick the people of Punjab. The Congress has sent a complaint to the Election Commission on this scam. It is impossible to receive such a response in such a short period."
"Elections are not entertainment or talent hunt shows. Elections are the heart and spirit of Indian democracy and they should be respected in letter and spirit. The Aam Aadmi Party is in the race to win the elections by deceit. They went a bit too far and created an illusion and fake perception of their party and leaders and misled the public. By creating this fake campaign, the AAP has created a hybrid model of fake news and fake talent show which is now being captured largely by all publishers and electronic media paid by the AAP. This is being done to disillusion sincere voters who are not realising that this is merely part of the marketing budget of the AAP and media houses are paid for featuring this as a headline," he alleged.
Sidhu further alleged that this mechanism to deceive and create an illusion and propaganda of fake news is a complete violation of the model code of conduct and the Election Commission should take strict notice of it. The AAP and Arvind Kejriwal should apologise for this scam to voters of Punjab and he should leave politics, he said.