BJP can threaten the EC but AAP remains unfazed by these cheap tactics: Gopal Rai
Open challenge to BJP — get MCD elections announced in a week if you don’t fear AAP: Gopal Rai
No one expected that we’d need to agitate to get MCD elections conducted after our landslide victory in Punjab: Gopal Rai
BJP can try as hard as it wants to delay MCD elections but they won’t win a single seat: Pankaj Gupta
BJP sensed that AAP will get 250+ seats in MCD elections just like how we won 62 in Delhi & 92 in Punjab: Atishi
We don’t have a problem with the unification; the real issue is of postponement of elections: Durgesh Pathak
Unification of MCD possible even after the elections are conducted; BJP running away like cowards: Durgesh Pathak
NEW DELHI:
The Aam Aadmi Party gheraoed the BJP headquarter in protest of MCD election delay. The party leaders asserted that the BJP coerced the Election Commission for political gains. AAP Delhi State Convenor Shri Gopal Rai stated – Challenge the BJP to get MCD elections announced in a week if it doesn’t fear AAP. No one expected that we’d need to agitate to get MCD elections conducted after our historic victory in Punjab. AAP National Secretary Shri Pankaj Gupta added that the BJP can try as hard as it wants to delay MCD elections, it will lose regardless of its countless efforts. AAP Senior Leader and MLA Atishi further stated that the BJP sensed that AAP will get over 250 seats in MCD elections just like how it won 62 in Delhi & 92 in Punjab. AAP Senior Leader and MCD Incharge Shri Durgest Pathak concluded – We don’t have a problem with the unification of the civic bodies, however the real issue is the postponement of elections. Unification of MCD is possible even after the elections are conducted and the BJP is simply running away like cowards.
Earlier in the day, Aam Aadmi Party workers led by AAP State Convenor Shri Gopal Rai raised slogans against the BJP at the AAP headquarter. AAP MCD in-charge Shri Durgesh Pathak, National Secretary Shri Pankaj Gupta and MLA Ms Atishi addressed the protest gathering as it charged towards the BJP HQs. MLA Shri Kuldeep Kumar, LOPs Shri Vikas Goel, Shri Prem Chauhan and Shri Manoj Tyagi were also present in the peaceful demonstration.
Among roaring chants of ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ Zindabaad’, Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi State Convenor Shri Gopal Rai said, “after the historic victory of AAP in Punjab, no one had anticipated that today the people of Delhi will have to agitate for the MCD elections. Perhaps, if the Election Commission’s press conference had taken place as planned we would have been preparing for the nominations of MCD. The BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi is trying to intimidate the Election Commission. They are trying to fill hatred in every section of the society. I want to congratulate all AAP workers for running rigorous campaigns to take AAP’s agenda to every doorstep. Today, the BJP stands petrified of Arvind Kejriwal. He stands a figure the BJP, PM and their andhbhakts fear day and night. The BJP, which scared the whole country, is now afraid of the Aam Aadmi Party. As a result of this, for the first time in the history of India, the EC did not announce the date of the MCD election. EC announced the code of conduct but not the date of the election. It did not announce whether the code of conduct is in force or not. EC has been coerced in every way possible. This fight is not just a battle of elections, it is about how they’ve silenced the Election Commission by intimidating it.”
He added, “Just as the goons silence someone by placing a gun on their head, the BJP, intoxicated with its power, has silenced the voice of the Election Commission by putting a gun of its power on their head. But I want to tell the people of BJP that Congress committed political suicides because of its arrogance. If you try to kill democracy, the same people who put you in power will throw you out of power. I challenge the BJP to announce the date for the MCD elections within a week if they’re not scared of AAP. The more the days keep increasing, BJP’s chances of losing will increase. 62, 92 and 250. These are the numbers the BJP fears. BJP conducted a survey in Delhi. The BJP’s deposits are going to be forfeited everywhere. The BJP has given three huge mountains of garbage to the people of Delhi. BJP is feeling that if the MCD, in which they have been ruling for 15 years, goes into elections today, the Aam Aadmi Party will win all of 272 seats. BJP has made a plan to keep postponing MCD elections.”
AAP National Secretary Shri Pankaj Gupta congratulated the public on Aam Aadmi Party’s historic victory in Punjab. He said, “The ‘Ek Mauka AAP Nu’ slogan which led the party to victory in Punjab is what peeved the leaders of the BJP. It made them realise that the same emotions behind these slogans would resound during the MCD elections and AAP would emerge victorious here as well. Each and every child is well aware that once the MD elections are held, the Aam Aadmi Party will secure a majority the way it has done in Punjab. AAP could easily secure 250-260 seats out of the total 270 had the elections not been deferred. All of us have appeared for exams in our lives – I remember the days close to the date when our stomachs would begin aching, and we would do anything to escape writing the exam. Such is the state of the BJP and its leaders in today’s date. Now that the time has come to evaluate the consequences of their blatant misgovernance over the past 5 to 15 years, they are all running from reality with their stomach aches.”
As the public further chanted against BJP’s authoritarianism, he continued, “They left no stone unturned to manoeuvre their way out of losing the regular elections in the hopes of somehow sustaining power in the MCD a little while longer. But no matter what gimmicks they might attempt, the results will remain the same. Their loss is definite. Delhi’s public resounds with the fact that none of these tricks will prevent the BJP from being thrown out of power in the MCD. “
Taking the baton from Pankaj Gupta and advancing Aam Aadmi Party’s fight to save Indian democracy, and rousing chants of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Inquilab Zindabad’, Senior AAP Leader and MLA Atishi stated, “On the morning of 9th March, the State Election Commission declared its decision to announce the dates for the upcoming MCD elections at 5 PM on the same day. However, just an hour before the announcement, the Centre sent a letter to the State EC that it plans to merge the three Civic bodies, and hence the elections must be deferred. The Modi Government has held office for the past seven years at the centre – so if they were truly concerned about the state of the MCD, why did they wait until an hour before election declaration to propose these changes? If the BJP genuinely wanted to see progress in the MCD, it could have made this decision 7 years ago, or even 5 or a year ago, or even a month ago. But this last minute change signifies that they are well aware that the Aam Aadmi Party was going to run the BJP out of power with a landslide victory in the MCD elections. Hence, the BJP workers thought to themselves that there is no way for them to win the MCD elections, so they might as well hinder the process altogether through some unconstitutional methods. They were well aware that had they advanced to contest a free and fair election, the Aam Aadmi Party would emerge victorious the way it won 62 out of 70 seats in Delhi assembly elections, and 92 seats in the Punjab assembly elections, and a similar majority of over 250 seats would go to AAP in the MCD.”
She added, “These efforts that the BJP is making in order to defer the MCD elections will prove to be futile and the Aam Aadmi Party, along with Delhi’s public will staunchly oppose their anti-democratic attempts. We take pride in the fact that no matter when these elections end up taking place, Shri Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party will win them. If the BJP goes ahead with its anti-democratic actions, then the people of Delhi will not let them live in peace.”
AAP MCD In-Charge Shri Durgesh Pathak added, “This miserable condition of the BJP itself is that the country’s biggest party hides behind unconstitutional methods out of fear of losing to a relatively minor political party is a win for AAP. I congratulate the Delhi public, for they are the ones who have been bearing the brunt of the BJP-ruled MCD’s misgovernance over the past 15 years. Many BJP councillors have admitted how even conducting election campaigns became impossible in Delhi’s streets – so fed up is the public with BJP’s misrule in the MCD. The anger against BJP has reached such a level that residents would drive the campaigners off with batons and threats. Now, they have proposed to merge the three MCDs into one – and the Aam Aadmi Party has no objection to this proposal. However, the merger and the timely conduction of elections are not related at all. The merger does not warrant deferment of regular MCD elections. Currently there are 272 wards from where councillors are elected and assigned to three different MCDs – after merging they would be assigned to a single place instead, with one mayor and one Standing Committee. This proves that the merger proposal is simply an excuse for the BJP to hold onto power a little longer, to save its face from a gigantic loss in the MCD elections.”
He further stated, “Once the Aam Aadmi Party forms its government in the MCD, alongside its government in the state, it will lead Delhi to newer heights of progress for years to come. This is the fear that the BJP holds – that they will not be able to rid Delhi of AAP no matter what they do. Hence, all BJP leaders conspired and decided to speak to PM Modi to manipulate the law to defer the elections for some 6 months to a year, so that they can amass more money and plunder the vaults of MCD even further.”