Delay in civic polls: AAP holds protest against BJP

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday held a protest against the BJP, alleging that it had forced the State Election Commission to "defer" the municipal polls in the national Capital.

A large number of AAP workers and senior leaders staged the protest near the party's office, demanding announcement of the dates of the civic polls.

The party had plans to gherao the BJP headquarters but failed to do so as police had put up barricades. Their protest led to a traffic jam in the area.

The AAP has been up in arms against the BJP since Delhi State Election Commissioner S K Srivastava at a press conference called to announce the dates for the civic polls last week had expressed his inability to declare the schedule, saying he had received "some communication" from the Centre.

Addressing party workers, senior AAP leader and Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai alleged that the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, forced the State Election Commission (SEC) to defer the announcement of the dates of the civic polls as it was scared of defeat.

The BJP under the leadership of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi is trying to intimidate the Election Commission, he charged.

As a result of this, the Election Commission did not announce the date of the municipal election for the first time in the history of India, he said.

The BJP, a party which scares the whole country, is now

afraid of the AAP. Narendra Modi, BJP and their andhabhakts (blind believers) are now scared of Arvind Kejriwal,

he added.

Senior AAP leader Atishi termed the postponement of the announcement of the civic polls dates as dictatorship of the BJP and its government at the Centre, and said such a move must be opposed tooth and nail .

Whether the (municipal) election is held today or a year later, it will be won by Arvind Kejriwal, she asserted.

But, this is a very dangerous tradition being started by them (BJP). Tomorrow, they will postpone state assembly elections if they feel BJP is going to be defeated The AAP and the people will oppose such dictatorship of the BJP tooth and nail, she added.

Reacting to the protest, Delhi BJP Spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the anxiety and frustration of the Kejriwal-led party over municipal election has reached its peak.

"Today's demonstration by AAP is a reflection of the same," he said.

The AAP should understand that the process for "betterment" in municipal corporations will take "a little time" and "soon we will go in for civic polls," he said.

"Actually today, AAP has become a power hungry party which has no vision or agenda. They are ready to do anything to gain power and party's decision not to expel riot accused councilor Tahir Hussain and tainted councilor Geeta Rawat, apart from admitting a murder accused Subash Chaudhary of Tughlaqabad in the party on March 9, are its glaring examples," he charged.

The AAP had on Saturday alleged that the BJP government at the Centre is "blackmailing" Srivastava to keep on hold the announcement of schedules for civic polls for an "indefinite period" fearing the party's "miserable defeat" in the election, if conducted.

Meanwhile, protest caused a traffic jam in the central Delhi's ITO area on Monday inconveniencing hundreds of commuters.

People shared their pain on Twitter to inform about the traffic situation at ITO.

Mohit Tomar, who works in the income tax department, said that it took him one hour to reach the Civic Centre

from ITO.

"Generally it took me only 10 minutes from ITO to reach my office at the Civic Centre. Due to heavy traffic, I got stuck at ITO and reached my office one hour late," Tomar said.

One of the commuters said that vehicles moved at a crawling pace on the road leading to ITO from Laxmi Nagar.