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Kejriwal Denies Any Legal Breach in Yamuna Water Dispute, Responds to Election Commission

Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, responded to the Election Commission of India’s notification on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, about his assertions about Yamuna water. He denied breaking any laws and blamed the problem on the careless release of untreated sewage into the river upstream.

Mr. Kejriwal said on January 27 that the Haryana BJP administration was “mixing poison” into the Yamuna water that was being sent to Delhi. Delhi Chief Minister Atishi supported him on Tuesday by quoting a letter from the CEO of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which said that although the capital’s water plants are intended to handle 1 parts per million (ppm) of ammonia, the levels in Yamuna water were far higher than allowed limits. The DJB too, however, later refuted Mr. Kejriwal’s allegations as “factually incorrect” and “without any basis and misleading”, as “ammonia in river Yamuna increases” during the winter months between October and February.

On Tuesday, the EC had asked Mr. Kejriwal to provide factual evidence to substantiate his allegations. In his reply, Mr. Kejriwal, citing the DJB CEO’s communication, said: “The root cause of this water contamination, as identified by DJB’s [CEO’s] letter, is the indiscriminate discharge of untreated domestic and Industrial waste into the Yamuna River upstream. The systemic failure in controlling this pollution has resulted in a public health crisis of unprecedented scale. The urgent cessation of these polluting activities is an absolute necessity, and the upper riparian authorities bear the primary responsibility to ensure that Delhi’s water supply remains uncontaminated and safe.”

He said that there was no violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and that his remarks did not contravene Sections 196, 197, and 353 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, or Section 123(4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. His statement was “fully protected under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and expression, and no offence or any violation of Code of Conduct was committed,” Mr. Kejriwal’s letter read.

In a letter to Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena, Ms. Atishi claimed that the latter had catered to political pressure. “Arvind Kejriwal raised the issue that the water in the Yamuna has a highly poisonous level of ammonia. The letter from the CEO of the Delhi Jal Board outrightly confirms this. Evidently, under your pressure, an officer has been forced to attempt a defense of this poisonous water supply. Even your letter acknowledges that the current ammonia level in the water is 7.2 ppm—a figure that is 700% above the permissible limit. At this critical juncture, you had two choices: to prioritize public interest or to bow to political interest. Unfortunately, you have chosen the latter,” the letter dated January 29 read.

In a letter to Ms. Atishi on Tuesday, Mr. Saxena had criticized Mr. Kejriwal for allegedly making false and deceptive claims about the Haryana government allegedly contaminating Yamuna water that was sent to Delhi.

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