New Delhi : Aam Admi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said that the Delhi assembly elections will be a direct contest between the AAP and the BJP and not an election of the INDIA alliance.
"Delhi assembly election is between AAP and the BJP. It is not the election of the INDIA alliance. I wholeheartedly express my gratitude to all those parties for supporting us. Mamata Banerjee is supporting us. Akhilesh Yadav is supporting us. I have learnt through media that the (Uddhav) Thackeray ji's party is supporting us," Kejriwal told reporters here on Thursday.
The Congress which is in a direct fight with the AAP and the BJP in Delhi has hit back at Kejriwal alleging that AAP had alway worked to defeat the Congress. "Arvind Kejriwal may say anything but Aam Aadmi Party is the party in Delhi which defamed Congress.
I don't remember him saying even a single word against BJP in 2012-13... AAP's method is that in all the elections they have gone only and only to defeat Congress. If you talk to any common man outside Delhi, he will also tell you that AAP contests only to defeat Congress. If you have so much aversion towards BJP and RSS, then why did you write a letter to RSS? Congress has never written such letters," Dikshit said.
Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said that he would raise the issue of alleged large-scale fraud in the electoral roll in the New Delhi Assembly constituency with the Chief Election Commissioner at a meeting scheduled for 3 pm today.
"Today at 3 pm we have a meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner. In this meeting, we will raise all these issues," Kejriwal said in the press conference when asked about the AAP's allegation of electoral roll fraud.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and AAP MP Sanjay Singh will accompany Kejriwal in the meeting. The Delhi assembly polls will be held in a single phase on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8.
The last date for filing nominations is January 17. The date for scrutiny of nominations is January 18. While last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 20. The Congress, which was in power for 15 consecutive years in Delhi, has suffered setbacks in the last two assembly elections and has failed to win any seat. In contrast, the AAP dominated the 2020 assembly elections by winning 62 out of 70 seats while the BJP got only eight seats.