Delhi Chief Minister Atishi launched a scathing attack on Bharatiya Janata Party's Ramesh Bidhuri ahead of the assembly polls, accusing him of violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
Atishi accused BJP supporters of intimidating slum residents and violating election rules under the direction of Bidhuri.
She claimed that despite alerting the authorities, the police and Election Commission failed to take action against the saffron party.
"We received news that some people from Ramesh Bidhuri's team were threatening the people from our jhuggi cluster at night," Atishi said.
The Delhi CM claimed that upon receiving the information, her team traced the vehicle involved and found Dinesh Chaudhary, a member of Bidhuri's team, present at the site.
"Initially, it was told that Manish Bhiduri was there, but Dinesh Chaudhary, from Sangam Vihar, was the one present. We have GPS-tagged photos that clearly show him at 11:30 PM on February 3rd, during the silence period, in Giri Nagar Bal Mukund Khand," she elaborated.
Atishi claimed that even though the Returning Officer, DCP, and the police were alerted about the incident, no action was taken against Chaudhary.
"I called the Returning Officer, DCP, and the police team, and they took him with them. However, when we followed them, we saw that no action was taken against him, and the police let him go. They were heading towards the police station," she said.
Earlier, Atishi, in a post on X, said that the ECI took no action against Ramesh Bidhuri's family members who were flagrantly violating the model code of conduct and instead a case was registered against her.
"The Election Commission is unbelievable. Ramesh Bidhuri's family members are openly flouting the model code of conduct and there is no action. I complained to police and the Election Commission and they registered a case against me," she said.
ECI hits back at AAP over 'pressure tactics'
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India, on Tuesday (Feb 4), hit back at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over its "repeated pressure tactics" to malign the poll body.
Election Commission of India tweets, "The 3-member Commission collectively noted repeated deliberate pressure tactics to malign ECI in Delhi Elections, as if it is a single member body & decided to have constitutional restraint, absorbing such outbursts with sagacity, stoically &… pic.twitter.com/ToTxeLOJ7L
— ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2025
In a post on its official X handle, ECI said, "The 3-member Commission collectively noted repeated deliberate pressure tactics to malign ECI in Delhi Elections, as if it is a single member body and decided to have constitutional restraint, absorbing such outbursts with sagacity, stoically and not to be swayed by such insinuations..."
(With inputs from agencies)