AAP predicts 51 seats for party in its own survey

An internal survey by the AAP on Wednesday predicted a clear majority for it giving itself 51 seats followed by 15 to BJP and a paltry four seats for Congress and others. Releasing the results of the survey, party leader Yogendra Yadav claimed 53% voters in the city preferred Arvind Kejriwal as their Chief Minister while 34% wanted BJP’s Kiran Bedi to head the next government. He said, in terms of vote share, AAP is likely to get 46% vote share while the BJP will get 33% and Congress 11%. Others have been projected to get 10 per cent of the total votes. Yadav, himself a psephologist, said in the best case scenario AAP may get 57 seats and in the worst case scenario it will bag at least 44 seats.

A die hard AAP supporter hailing from Canada sent a legal notice to Gopal Goel of AAP Volunteer Action Manch (AVAM), who had alleged  that money was deposited illegally into the party’s coffers. The cheques were issued in the names of Jaskirat Kaur Mann, her husband Rajinder Mann.

In her legal notice, Jaskirat has given Gopal Goel, who she claims has a personal vendetta against AAP, 24 hours to call a press conference to retract his statements and tender an unconditional apology. In case Goel doesn’t meet these demands, she has threatened to file suits against him in Indian and Canadian courts.

Jaskirat’s lawyer, SM Anis, claimed that copies of the cheques shown by AVAM to the media are fakes. Anis alleged that Jagmandeep Singh, who signed one of the cheques, is a “vocal and staunch opposer of AAP” and had organized demonstrations against the party and one of its members, Bhagwant Mann, in Canada. The lawyer claimed that Jagmandeep Singh and Goel hatched a conspiracy to defame Jaskirat. It has been alleged that huge donations were made by Canadian firms to AAP supporters illegally who, in turn, kept a share and handed the rest to the party. However, Jaskirat said that she donated Rs 5.3 lakh to AAP out of her savings on which she had paid tax. Moreover, as she holds an Indian passport, she is free to donate money to any political party. “AVAM has to show me where the foreign funds were deposited. I have brought my bank account statement as proof that I haven’t received the money as alleged by Goel,” said Jaskirat.

Meanwhile, Gopal Goel said that he was “very hungry and eager” for the legal notice. “We stand by what we said in our press conference on Tuesday. It is true that we can’t prove any charge, but we have a strong suspicion about their role in AAP’s foreign funding,” he said, adding that he will reply in detail to Jaskirat’s allegations in court.