Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday attacked the BJP over the Chandigarh mayoral elections alleging that the “world’s biggest party was caught on camera stealing votes”.
If it (BJP) can “rig” the Chandigarh mayoral polls, it could go to any extent in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections, he said.
Addressing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and workers at a protest at the party’s office here, Kejriwal said, “In the last few years, we had heard that the BJP rigs polls, tampers with EVMs and gets names of voters deleted from the voter lists but never was any evidence found. They were caught red-handed in Chandigarh stealing votes.”
“If they can indulge in such irregularities in the Chandigarh mayoral polls, what would they be doing in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections? They can sell the country for power but we will not allow them to do it. We have to save democracy and the country,” he said.
He also raised the slogan of “Gali gali mein shor hai, BJP vote chor hai”.
The national convener of the AAP also alleged that a large number of party workers and leaders were stopped and detained by the police to prevent them from joining the protest.
The demonstration was planned in front of the BJP headquarters, a few hundred metres away on the DDU Marg, but the AAP members could not reach there because of heavy police deployment and barricading.
The elections to the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor were held on Tuesday and the BJP won all of them, defeating the Congress-AAP alliance.
Kejriwal’s Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann alleged that it was not the first time that the BJP had indulged in “dishonesty” during polls, but it got captured on camera for the first time.
“It will be written in the history books that when democracy was in danger, people had gathered outside the AAP office to provide oxygen to it. If they had their way, they would not allow elections to happen.
“Why do you (central government) spend so much money on conducting elections? Why not declare dictatorship? If they come back to power in 2024, Narendra Modi will become Narendra Putin and no elections will be held,” he alleged.
The souls of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Chandra Shekhar Azad would be pained to see what is happening today, he said.
Mann also spoke about how the opposition leaders were being targeted and alleged that those who were in power in the states were being “harassed” by the governors. He cited his example and that of his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee.
“Crores of Kejriwal are now being born in the country. You can put Kejriwal behind bars but how will you imprison his thoughts? Satyendar Jain had hospitals constructed and was put behind bars. Manish Sisodia built good schools and students studying there are going to IIT and clearing NEET but he was put behind bars,” he said.
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