The Election Commission of India (EC) on Tuesday issued notices to AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for alleged jibes linking Prime Minister Narendra Modi with industrialists.

The poll panel is yet to penalise or exonerate Priyanka and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for the notices it sent them last month. Priyanka was served the notice for insinuating that the Prime Minister was stingy in donating to a temple while Sarma had allegedly passed communal remarks against a Chhattisgarh minister from a minority community. The Mizoram polls and the first phase of the Chhattisgarh polls have since concluded.

In its showcause notices to Kejriwal and Priyanka on Tuesday on complaints of the BJP, the EC has asked them to explain their statements by Thursday.

The poll panel has found Kejriwal’s remarks linking the Prime Minister to industrialist Gautam Adani defamatory. Trinamul MP Mahua Moitra is also under the glare of the Parliamentary Ethics Committee for allegedly asking questions to harm the prospects of the Adani group in lieu of bribes by a rival industrialist.

Kejriwal has been accused of violating Section 123 (4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and sections 171G, 499 and 501 of Indian Penal Code, as well as sections of and the Model Code of Conduct all of which prohibit false and defamatory statements.

Under the EC’s glare are two Hindi videos on the AAP’s X (formerly Twitter) page. The first titled “Modi’s interesting routine”, on November 8, talks of a person eating lakhs worth of mushrooms, doing yoga poses on camera and taking “orders from Adani ji”.

The second, posted the following day, contains an image of a fabricated poster with the title “Bharatiya Jumla Party Presents” and comprising a large image of Adani along with a smaller image of the Prime Minister in the foreground with the words “Sarkar Janta Ke Liye Nahi Malik Ke Liye Kaam Karte Hain” on top and the words “Scam 2023 and The Modi Adani Story”.

Priyanka has been served a notice for her speech on November 10 in Madhya Pradesh’s Sanwer in which she said: “Modi ji, this was Bhel which provided employment to us and was making the country progress… Why did you give it to your big industrialist friends?”

The Modi government has repeatedly denied plans to privatise the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (Bhel). Recently, trade unions opposed a joint venture between Bhel and an Italian firm to make Vande Bharat coaches.