BC NDP disqualifies Anjali Appadurai; David Eby set to be next premier

The BC NDP Executive has kicked Anjali Appadurai out of the leadership race, leaving just David Eby as the lone candidate to become the next premier.

In a statement, BC NDP President Aaron Sumexheltza says the party executive “has voted to support the Chief Electoral Officer’s recommendation to disqualify Anjali Appadurai as a candidate as a sanction for violating the rules.”

The recommendation was outlined by the CEO in a report obtained by various outlets, including CityNews, this week.

“This has been a challenging period for members of the party, and I thank Elizabeth Cull, the party’s table officers and the Executive for their dedication to their roles. I know they did not make this decision lightly,” Sumexheltza continued Wednesday night.

With just Eby remaining, Sumexheltza says Cull is now “considering moving up the election date,” adding more information would come Thursday.

This comes after a Tuesday’s report by BC NDP Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Elizabeth Cull said that Appadurai’s leadership campaign encouraged members of B.C.’s Green party to leave their party and join to the NDP to vote for her, offering to pay for new members memberships, and using Dogwood B.C.’s list to recruit members.

Essentially, misusing third parties to gain new memberships.

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Appadurai has been fighting against the potential disqualification, saying the rules were changed and applied to her campaign retroactively.

She calls the whole situation an “undemocratic” way to disqualify her bid for the party leadership.

“I believe now close to 4,000 New Democrats and others across B.C. and beyond have emailed the BC NDP provincial executive to speak up against this unjust disqualification and to take a stand for, ultimately the soul of the party,” Appadurai said.

Cull reported 17.7 per cent of the more than 2,000 new members were deemed “ineligible” because of ties to other parties.

Appadurai, however, insists her campaign is not guilty of any wrongdoing, saying the whole process was not fair to her.

In a news conference Wednesday, Appadurai took aim at an information bulletin posted by the electoral officer on Aug. 31 that made campaigns responsible for what third parties do during leadership races.

“This is clearly a new interpretation, it was not information that we had before Aug. 31. There is no way we could have known that interpretation in advance,” she said.

Appadurai says the bulletin was applied retroactively to cover events that took place weeks prior, like on Aug. 6, when the report says she promised backers that Dogwood and other groups would help her gather new members.

“Under the party’s rules the CEO does have the power to change the rules of a leadership contest during the course of the race, and while that’s unsettling, we accept it. But they don’t give the CEO the power to change the rules retroactively,” she said.

“[The CEO’s] whole case around Dogwood rests on that: a new and controversial interpretation of the rules, issued mid-campaign and applied retroactively,” Appadurai added.

However, the party voted in favour of disqualifying Appadurai, effectively making Eby the sole candidate to become B.C.’s next premier.