When asked about the absence of evidence among local residents and newspaper distributors we spoke to, AAP spokesperson Akshay Marathe told Newslaundry that no vendor or distributor would admit to circulating such a pamphlet given the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct. “There’s no vendor who would put their neck on the line and admit to something so illegal,” Marathe said. But then what’s the basis of the AAP’s claim that the pamphlet was given away with newspapers and that Gambhir’s team was behind it? “Some people in Vishwas Nagar were handed the newspaper with the pamphlet in a park, one of them was a journalist from a Hindi daily. He told us that mujhe phasao mat (don’t get me involved), so it’ll be hard to put one in touch with him,” Marathe explained. So is it just hearsay? “You can say it’s hearsay because it is indeed hearsay,” Marathe admitted. “We can’t produce any recording of Gambhir’s team discussing this pamphlet, or documentary evidence of them circulating the pamphlet. It’s not something you can show evidence for. What we’re looking at is a motivated rumour and a whisper campaign meant to smear Atishi and the AAP.”