New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), headed by Arvind Kejriwal, alleged today that one of its candidates in Gujarat had been “kidnapped,” dragged to an election office, and forced at gunpoint to withdraw his nomination before being taken away once again. The BJP, which is in power, was accused by the opposition party which has not responded to the allegation yet.
Kanchan Jariwala, the AAP’s candidate for Surat (East), was allegedly “kidnapped” by the BJP, brought to the election office by police, and then taken to a “undisclosed place,” according to a barrage of tweets from AAP leaders. The Election Commission received the party’s complaint.
Manish Sisodia, senior AAP leader, claimed that 500 police had escorted Mr. Jariwala to be brought to the Gujarat election returning office.
Flagging his allegations to the EC, he tweeted: “A candidate was kidnapped. They got him to withdraw his nomination at gunpoint. What can be a bigger emergency for the Election Commission? So we have come to the Election Commission with an appeal for immediate action.”
One more AAP leader Raghav Chaddha, posted a video of what he called Mr. Jariwala being “dragged” and forced to withdraw his nomination.
“Watch how police and BJP goons together – dragged our Surat East candidate Kanchan Jariwala to the RO office, forcing him to withdraw his nomination The term ‘free and fair election’ has become a joke!” he tweeted.
BJP was “panicking” as it was about to lose Gujarat: Manish Sisodia
Sisodia claimed that the BJP had turned to kidnapping an AAP candidate because it was “panicking” that it was set to lose Gujarat.
AAP claimed that Kanchan Jariwala and his family had went missing yesterday when he went to have his nomination papers examined.
“The moment he came out of the office after getting his nomination scrutinized, BJP’s goons took him away,” said Mr Sisodia, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP’s number two leader.
Also Read: PM Modi to inaugurate silver Jubilee edition of Bangalore Tech Summit today
“This is dangerous. This is the kidnapping of democracy, not just a candidate,” he alleged.
Several AAP leaders tweeted the allegations.
“Our candidate from Surat (East), Kanchan Jariwala, and his family missing since yesterday. First, BJP tried to get his nomination rejected. But his nomination was accepted. Later, he was pressurised to withdraw his nomination. Has he been kidnapped?” tweeted Arvind Kejriwal.
Triangular contest in Gujarat:
The AAP has actively challenged the BJP, which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, and has changed the state’s long-standing BJP-Congress conflict into a triangular contest.
Gujarat elects a new government on December 1 and 5. On December 8, the results will be made public.
The BJP’s accusation that an AAP MLA is connected to bribery made in exchange for a party nomination to run in the Delhi municipal elections overlapped with the kidnapping allegation.
Akhilesh Pati Tripathi’s personal assistant and two other men, one a relative, were arrested yesterday allegedly taking lakhs from a party worker who wanted to be a candidate. Rajesh Gupta, another AAP lawmaker, has also been mentioned, and the Delhi Police asserts that they have audio and video evidence.
The BJP claimed that the case had “one again exposed the AAP’s true face.”
For all the news update subscribe our YouTube channel ‘DNP India’. You can also follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and TWITTER.
