The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday wrote to Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer P. Bharati demanding a probe after its candidate from Surat East constituency Kanchan Jariwala withdrew his nomination. The AAP alleged Jariwala was abducted and pressured to do so at the behest of the BJP and also urged the poll panel to cancel election on the seat.
Jariwala, however, later issued a video statement saying he withdrew his nomination without any pressure and by listening to his conscience. "During campaigning, people repeatedly told me that I was anti-national and anti-Gujarat and they will not support me for the party from which I have filed my candidature. Getting such negative feedback from the public, my conscience cried,” he said.
"I listened to my conscience and made up my mind not to contest the election from such an anti-national and anti-Gujarat party and withdrew my nomination without any pressure," Jariwala further said.
Earlier, addressing a press conference in Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said their Surat seat candidate Jariwala, along with his family, had been missing since Tuesday.
"In this election, the Bharatiya Janata Party is miserably losing in Gujarat and has become so rattled that it has stooped to the level of kidnapping our candidate," Sisodia alleged.
A four-member delegation of the AAP, led by Sisodia, also met the Election Commission officials this evening and handed over a representation. Following this, the commission asked the Gujarat chief electoral officer to inquire and take action "as warranted" into the allegations.
An EC spokesperson said AAP's representation has been sent to the CEO in Gujarat to inquire and take "action as warranted".
In their letter to the Gujarat CEO, AAP leader and Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha accused the BJP of trying to get his nomination rejected initially, which did not work as the returning officer accepted the nomination.
"BJP did not stop there and threatened him and his family for life," stated the letter."This is a horrific story and a blot on the election system that threatens to tear apart the democratic fabric of the country," the AAP said, requesting the CEO to take notice of the "grave situation" and direct an inquiry into the entire incident and take appropriate and strict action as per law.
Meanwhile, Aslam Cyclewala, the Congress candidate in the seat, sought the support of the AAP from the seat to defeat the BJP.
"On the direct orders of state BJP president CR Paatil, the nomination of your candidate for Surat East Assembly seat has been withdrawn by intimidation, money power and deceit," he alleged in a post on his Facebook page.
With PTI inputs