Gujarat polls: Kidnapped AAP candidate appears before Returning Officer, withdraws nomination

New Delhi: AAP candidate from Gujarat’s Surat (East) Kanchan Jariwala, who was kidnapped on Tuesday evening, withdrew his nomination after he appeared before the Returning Officer today, with the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleging that the ruling BJP pressured him to do so.

“Our candidate from Surat (East) in Gujarat, Kanchan Jariwala has just been brought to Returning Officer’s office. He was circled by over 500 policemen and is now being pressured to take his nomination back,” said Sisodia while addressing the media in Delhi.

A video shared by news agency ANI showed Jariwala, wearing a blue shirt, walking out of the Returning Officer’s office in Surat (East) along with five-six people on Wednesday.

#WATCH | Gujarat: AAP candidate from Surat (East) from Gujarat, Kanchan Jariwala, takes back his nomination after he was allegedly kidnapped last evening pic.twitter.com/E1vqqkveNi

— ANI (@ANI) November 16, 2022

Earlier, Sisodia had accused the BJP of kidnapping Jariwala and raised questions over the credibility of the Election Commission.

“BJP has kidnapped our Surat (East) candidate Kanchan Jariwala. He was last seen at the Returning Officer’s office yesterday. They tried to get his nomination rejected. Later, he was pressurised to withdraw his nomination. This raises questions on EC,” the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister said.

The BJP, however, denied the charge and asked the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP to “take care of its own house”.

State AAP president Gopal Italia claimed that Jariwala appeared before the office of the Returning Officer under heavy police protection and was surrounded by “BJP goons”.

When mediapersons questioned Jariwala, he was hurriedly whisked away by the persons surrounding him.

Italia alleged that Jariwala had gone missing and was allegedly taken to an undisclosed location by the BJP goons who put pressure on him to stay away from the election.

However, Surat city BJP president Niranjan Zanzmera refuted the allegations and said the AAP should instead “take care of its own house.”

Italia said the AAP will take advice of its legal team for further action into the matter.

The BJP has fielded its sitting MLA Arvind Rana from the seat.

Talking to reporters in Surat, Italia claimed, “The BJP first wanted to get Jariwala’s nomination invalidated on the last date of the process on Tuesday. When his nomination was accepted, the BJP goons took him to some undisclosed location…We could not find him anywhere until Wednesday morning. His relatives told us that he was put under huge pressure to stay away from the election.”

Italia further said the way Jariwala appeared to withdraw his nomination suggested that he was under “huge pressure.”

“Why else would he come to the office under heavy police protection and with 50-100 goons if he intended to withdraw his candidature on his own?” Italia asked.

AAP’s Gujarat co-incharge Raghav Chadha alleged that the “BJP goons” kidnapped Jariwala on Tuesday to put pressure on him to withdraw his candidature.

“The BJP is so scared in Gujarat that it has started kidnapping the AAP candidates,” the Rajya Sabha member claimed.

“The BJP goons themselves went to the office of the Returning Officer along with Jariwala and put pressure on him to get his nomination invalidated. Pressure was also put on his proposers to get his nomination invalidated,” he alleged.

Chadha said the party has informed the Chief Electoral Officer about it, and a written complaint will be submitted. Local police and administration have also been informed about it, he said.

Surat Police Commissioner Ajay Tomar said that the issue has come to his notice.

“I have come to know about it and we are trying to find out. I have put my teams on the job and we will find it out. We have not received any formal complaint yet but since this has come to my notice, I am working on it,” the police official said.

Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on 1 December and 5 December and the counting of votes will be taken up on 8 December.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.