Delhi CM Atishi has sought the deployment of paramilitary forces in her constituency.
| Photo Credit: file photo

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Kalkaji candidate Atishi on Tuesday wrote to the Election Commission of India (EC), alleging that relatives of her rival candidate, BJP’s former MP Ramesh Bidhuri, had attacked her party’s volunteers. She urged the EC to deploy paramilitary forces in the seat to ensure a “free and fair election” and “the safety of AAP workers”.

“These BJP workers have been openly threatening AAP volunteers without any fear… I urge you to take immediate action and deploy security forces across Kalkaji constituency,” read the CM’s letter to the returning officer in the Assembly seat. Congress’s Alka Lamba is also in the fray from the south-east Delhi seat for the February 5 Assembly election.

In response, the BJP said the letter reflected “despair of a likely defeat”. Party spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who is up against BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh and Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit from New Delhi, “are trapped in their respective constituencies and sensing defeat”. He added, “Instead of focusing on their seats, AAP leaders are preparing to pin their defeat on the BJP and the EC.”

In her letter, the CM also said that no action had been taken against Mr. Bidhuri despite his abusive comments against her. “It has given a signal that misbehaviour by BJP leaders will go unpunished,” she said.

The former BJP MP has made several comments against the CM, at least one of which drew a sharp response from his own party.

Mr. Kejriwal issued a message on X supporting his Cabinet colleague and accusing BJP members of “hooliganism and threatening the people of Delhi with the protection and collaboration of the police”.

“All of this is happening on the orders of Amit Shahii. The BJP suffered crushing defeats in Delhi in 2015 and 2020 [Assembly polls]. This time, too, the BJP is facing a severe loss. Frustrated by this, Amit Shahji is now orchestrating hooliganism against the people of Delhi,” he said in a post on X.