The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, alleging that “certain political parties” were planning to create unrest and violence in Delhi on Sunday, PTI reported. The party asked Arora to direct Commissioner of Police Amulya Patnaik and law enforcement agencies to take appropriate measures to prevent such violence.
Delhi’s ruling party said it had come to know through its “sources” that certain “anti-social elements in connivance with certain political parties” are planning to create unrest and violence on Sunday, in order to subvert law and order in the city and prevent the conduct of free and fair elections.
Assembly polls for all 70 seats in Delhi will be held on February 8, and the results declared on February 11. In the 2015 elections, AAP had won 67 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party three seats and the Congress none.
“We have attached a video wherein a group can be seen giving a call to assemble near Sarita Vihar in large numbers,” the letter to Arora said. “We have attached the picture of one such hoarding being put in some parts of Delhi. In the light of these, we apprehend that this may be a well planned conspiracy to sabotage the Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections 2020.”
AAP also alleged that the BJP was planning a “big disturbance” at Shaheen Bagh and at the Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday. On Saturday, a man opened fire at Shaheen Bagh, where women, with children, have been protesting peacefully against the Citizenship Amendment Act for over a month. Earlier this week, a teenager fired at a protestor outside Jamia Millia Islamia, injuring him.
The BJP, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has used Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s public backing of the Shaheen Bagh protests to run a belligerent campaign. On January 30, the day the teenager opened fire outside Jamia Millia Islamia, Shah asked people at a rally whether they supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the protestors at Shaheen Bagh. Previously, Shah Shah had asked people to vote for the BJP so that there will “never be a Shaheen Bagh” in Delhi.
On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath claimed that the demonstrators at Shaheen Bagh resent India’s rise on the global stage. Last week, Minister of State for Home Affairs Anurag Thakur had caused a controversy by encouraging people at a rally to chant “shoot the traitors of the country”.
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