Shazia Ilmi, a former journalist, has offered not to contest elections till her name is cleared
Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party today said the tapes of a sting operation against some of its key leaders were doctored, even as the website that aired it said it would hand over the raw footage to the Election Commission.
Battling its biggest challenge ahead of the December 4 Delhi election the AAP warned the website, mediasarkar, of action if it didn't hand over the raw footage to the party.
The sting allegedly shows some AAP candidates agreeing to help push property deals and resolve financial disputes in return for cash donations to the party. The AAP says the footage has edited conversations.
"This is not a Bigg Boss episode that you can edit and only show some footage as you want," said Sanjay Singh, an AAP member.
One of those targeted by the sting is AAP's high-profile candidate from RK Puram, Shazia Ilmi, a former journalist and vocal activist, who has offered to pull out of the poll contest.
The website today said it was "standard response" after any sting operation to call the tapes doctored. "If AAP wants to ask questions legally, they can. We will give the tapes to the Election Commission," said the website's Anuranjan Jha.
Mediasarkar has not revealed which political party helped it book the venue of the press meet it held to show the sting operation. It requires a Member of Parliament to book that venue.
Mr Kejriwal, whose party makes its debut in the Delhi elections on an anti-corruption plank, has said, "We will not compromise on any kind of corruption."
Earlier this week, he has fought off allegations of misusing the money raised for the anti-corruption campaign fronted by Anna Hazare two years ago. Videos of Anna released to TV channels also showed his mentor worrying about the money being misused.