B.C. NDP report recommends Anjali Appadurai be disqualified from leadership race for breaking campaign rules

Oct. 19, 2022

Candidate says she did nothing wrong after report said she improperly used third parties for membership drive

The official in charge of the B.C. NDP's leadership race has recommended candidate Anjali Appadurai be disqualified after an investigation into a wave of new membership sign-ups during the campaign, according to a leaked report.

The investigation found Appadurai, 32, broke campaign rules by improperly co-ordinating with third parties to encourage more people to sign up for party membership by Sept. 4 to vote in the leadership race.

"Because no other remedy can adequately address the failings and breaches of the Appadurai campaign in this leadership election contest, the CEO has reached the difficult conclusion that Ms. Appadurai should be disqualified as a candidate," read the report, authored by B.C. NDP chief election officer Elizabeth Cull and leaked on Tuesday.

"The improper co-ordination ... played such a significant role in the Appadurai campaign that it is impossible to create a level playing field at this point, and thus impossible to restore the leadership election campaign to a state of integrity in which I could have confidence."

Appadurai's disqualification would leave former attorney general and housing minister David Eby as the only eligible candidate to succeed Premier John Horgan, who is due to step down on Dec. 3.

A party decision on Appadurai's candidacy is expected after meeting on Wednesday.

In a series of tweets after the report was leaked on Tuesday, Appadurai said her campaign hadn't broken any guidelines.

"It was the politics of the campaign — not the process, personnel or tactics — that attracted the number of members that it did," she wrote.

"I believe that my campaign has been treated unjustly from the start. I also want to be clear that we have followed the rules, acted with integrity, and tried to make this a contest of ideas.

"It's in all of our interests — to allow the members to decide the next leader."

 

Officials investigated several complaints

Elections B.C. and the NDP both started investigating Appadurai's campaign after receiving complaints that Dogwood B.C.'s involvement represented a proscribed political contribution. Dogwood is an environmental group dedicated to getting voters more involved in politics.

Officials were also looking into allegations that an Appadurai supporter offered to pay for $10 NDP memberships, and that the campaign encouraged members of the B.C. Greens to temporarily leave their party to join the NDP and vote for Appadurai.

The report found Dogwood used emails, paid advertisements and phone banks in an effort to recruit supporters to the NDP in time to vote.

It also said Appadurai told supporters in a Zoom call on Aug. 6 the organizations would help her sign up hundreds of new members, with a goal of 1,000 new registrations in less than two days.

As a solution to the "improper" swell in membership, Cull thought about banning new members who signed up after the Aug. 6 meeting from participating in the vote. She decided against it after determining the move would also disqualify voters who signed up properly.

"This potential remedy does nothing to address the CEO's serious concerns about Ms. Appadurai's failures to take any responsibility for the violations committed in relation to her campaign, and her distressingly lackadaisical attitude to her obligations as a leadership candidate," Cull said.

Appadurai campaign launches petition

In response to the report, Appadurai's campaign launched a petition — Let Her Run — calling on the NDP to let the party membership choose its leader, rather than the executive, or risk "making a mockery of the 'Democratic' in NDP."

Complaints to the NDP in August included an official one from Eby's campaign, the report said.

Appadurai, a former federal NDP candidate and longtime activist, launched her campaign that month with an emphasis on tackling environmental and human rights issues.

In an interview with the Canadian Press, she said she did not have details on the exact number of new NDP memberships her campaign secured but said she heard it could have been as high as 14,000.

Issue could end up in court, expert says

Hamish Telford, a political science professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, said he was shocked by the report's recommendation despite the seriousness of the allegations.

"I'm a little surprised that they've decide to go for the maximum punishment here — that is, expelling her from the race — rather than exposing some lesser sanctions such as disqualifying memberships, fining her campaign or perhaps something else," Telford said during an interview with CBC's The Early Edition on Wednesday.

"There are going to be questions here about due process ... did Ms. Appadurai have the opportunity to really defend herself? Was due process followed? Was was the methodology of the audit that led to the conclusion that there were a lot of fraudulent new members in the party? 

"If Ms. Appadurai's legal team finds there were problems in the process that was followed ... then I think we could perhaps see this being taken to the courts."

LISTEN | Political science professor weighs in on report recommending Appadurai's disqualification: