The Aam Aadmi Party alleged on Wednesday that its Surat East candidate Kanchan Jariwala was abducted at the behest of the BJP, which ”feared” a defeat in the seat in the Gujarat Assembly election.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Jariwala had been missing along with his family members since Tuesday, adding that the last time the candidate was seen was at the Election Commission’s office in Surat for scrutiny of his nomination papers.
Sisodia alleged that Jariwala was forced to withdraw his nomination when he went to the returning officer’s office.
”In this election, the BJP is miserably losing in Gujarat and has become so rattled that it has stooped to the level of kidnapping our candidate from Surat East,” Sisodia told reporters in New Delhi.
”Fearing defeat, the BJP goons have kidnapped the AAP candidate from Surat, Kanchan Jariwala,” he said.
Sisodia alleged that the BJP ”goons” also tried to get Jariwala’s nomination cancelled, but the returning officer could not do so as there was no lacuna in his papers.
”This is not just the kidnapping of our candidate, but the kidnapping of democracy. This is a very dangerous situation in Gujarat,” Sisodia said.
He appealed to the EC to take cognisance of the incident and ”deploy all machinery to trace and bring back our party’s candidate and his family members”.
Sisodia also hit out at the Gujarat chief electoral officer (CEO) and accused him of not taking appropriate action to ”trace and rescue” Jariwala.
The AAP leader alleged that even after the candidate was missing for the last 24 hours, the CEO was only saying the district magistrate and the superintendent of police had been asked to look into the matter.
”This incident raises questions on the functioning of the CEO as well,” Sisodia said.
He sought time from Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar for a meeting in connection with the incident.
”Kidnapping of our candidate, who was going to defeat the BJP in Surat East seat, is not an ordinary incident. I appeal to the EC to ensure that such incidents do not take place and a fair and impartial election is held in the state,” he said.
Sisodia and other party leaders staged a demonstration outside the EC office over the alleged abduction.
Several party leaders and workers gathered at the spot and raised slogans against the BJP.
