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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today ruled out withdrawing candidates in Delhi Assembly polls figuring in a sting operation, saying any action against them will be against natural justice as the CD showing them in poor light had been doctored and the web portal had refused to provide them the unedited version.
The party also asked the Election Commission to go through contents of the unedited CD, which was submitted by the portal, at the earliest and said "if they find any of the candidates guilty of any wrongdoing, they will withdraw from the contest."
Facing allegation of accepting cash through illegal means in the sting operation purportedly carried out by "mediasarkar .Com", the Arvind Kejriwal-led party said it would file a case of "criminal defamation" against them for maligning the image of its candidates.
The media portal had yesterday claimed to have done a sting operation on AAP senior leaders including Shazia Ilmi and Kumar Vishwas and alleged that they were involved in raising funds through illegal means.
After the release of the CD, AAP launched a probe into the allegation by an internal panel, which asked the portal to provide the unedited CD to the party to take appropriate action.
"After going through the CD several times, we have found lapses at many places which could only be verified by viewing the unedited footage. If we take any action without going through the unedited CD, then it would be against the natural justice, so we have decided not to withdraw any candidates," AAP leader Yogendra Yadav told reporters.
Yadav, flanked by the candidates whose names had figured in the CD and party leader Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia, Prashant Bhushan, Shazia Ilmi, Pankaj Gupta, also said the party would file a case of criminal defamation against the portal.
"We would also lodge a complaint against the newschannels in the News Broadcaster's Association (NBA) and Press Council of India (PCI) for showing the sting operation without verifying the authenticity of the CD," Yadav said.
