Arvind Kejriwal threatens to launch a movement if BJP sweeps Delhi civic body elections
The AAP chief said claims of EVM manipulation will be proved right if the exit poll predictions favouring the saffron party come true.
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday threatened to launch a “movement” if the Bharatiya Janata Party sweeps the elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi as predicted by exit polls. The results of the civic body elections will be announced on Wednesday.
The exit polls on Monday predicted that the BJP will win 220 of the 270 seats that were contested. Voting in two wards were cancelled after deaths of the candidates. “If such results come in, it will prove that manipulation has happened, like in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Pune, Mumbai, Bhind and Dholpur...We are not here to enjoy the pleasures of power. We will return to movement,” Kejriwal said. Senior AAP leaders including Ashutosh, Kumar Vishwas and other MLAs attended the meeting, reported CNN-News18.
The AAP chief had complained about malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines on the day of voting, as well. He had said that people with voters’ slips were not being allowed to exercise their franchise. On Monday, he reiterated that he was more concerned about the “unabated tampering of EVMs”.
The party’s Delhi convenor, Dilip Pandey, echoed Kejriwal’s views and said, “If this [BJP victory] is what exit polls are predicting, it is clear that the EVMs have been tampered with, and these fake exit polls are being put out to prepare a ground for the rigged results,” he said, according to PTI.
The BJP, on the other hand, is confident of a landslide victory. The party’s Delhi unit president, Manoj Tiwari, said he had noticed tremendous support while campaigning. “I never saw such public support for a party in my life. We are expecting a landslide victory,” he said.
The Congress, like AAP, debunked exit poll predictions that said the party will bag only around 31 seats. Congress leaders claimed it will be a close fight with the BJP. “Wait for the counting of votes and actual results, and you will witness a close fight between the Congress and BJP, while AAP will be a distant third,” party leader Chatar Singh told PTI.