At 11 a.m., Kejriwal and his Punjabi counterpart, Bhagwant Mann, were scheduled to spearhead the demonstration outside the headquarters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Even as leaders of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were assembling for a protest in the capital on Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal declined the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) fifth summons for questioning in relation to the money laundering case linked to purported irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy 2021–22. On Friday at 11am, Kejriwal and his Punjabi counterpart, Bhagwant Mann, were scheduled to spearhead the demonstration outside the BJP headquarters, which is in power, in an effort to prevent “theft of votes,” according to the AAP.
The AAP said in a statement that they would not allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi to depose Kejriwal’s government and put him under arrest. It rejected the summons as being unlawful. As per the AAP, Kejriwal would comply with legally valid summonses. After learning that the ED had sent Kejriwal a new summons, the AAP declared its protest against the BJP’s irregularities during this week’s Chandigarh mayoral election. The announcement came more than an hour later.
Following accusations of vote tampering, the fourth round of voting was discarded, giving the BJP the victory on Tuesday. Kejriwal attributed the AAP-Congress combine’s defeat to electoral malpractice. Ahead of the national elections, he charged that the BJP was “rigging the ballot” and said the incident had set a dangerous precedent for the nation. Kejriwal said on Friday, in a post on X, that AAP lawmakers and volunteers were being held by police while they were en route to the protest site. What is happening here? Kejriwal enquired.
On X, his Cabinet colleague Atishi wrote about the construction of barricades throughout Delhi. Hundred members of the parliament force have been stationed outside the AAP office, and buses full of AAP volunteers are being detained, she continued. Why is the BJP so afraid of a protest in the Chandigarh mayor elections? She asked. On X, Atishi inquired.
Harish Khurana, a BJP leader, stated that it was anticipated that Kejriwal would once again ignore the summons. How come the chief minister of Delhi doesn’t appear in court if the summons is invalid? Hemant Soren also disgraced summons ten times before showing up in front of the ED. He was arrested when he was unable to respond to questions from the ED. Kejriwal shouldn’t complain about politics of vengeance if the ED prosecutes him harshly. Kejriwal must respond to a number of questions posted by the ED.
According to the AAP, a few last-minute changes made by Saxena’s predecessor ruined the plan and caused lower-than-expected revenue. According to the ED, the AAP was paid Rs 100 crore in bribes to finalize the policy, and a portion of that money was utilized for the party’s campaign in the Goa elections. Leading AAP figures, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, have been detained by the agency in relation to the case.
