AAP Claims Party's Surat (East) Candidate Kidnapped; Candidate Turns Up At RO Office, Withdraws Nomination

The Aam Aadmi Party chief, Arvind Kejriwal, in a tweet on Wednesday, alleged that the party's Surat East candidate, Kanchan Jariwala, was abducted at the behest of the BJP.

The allegation was made without any evidence with the assumption that the BJP fears losing the seat to AAP.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Jariwala had been missing along with his family members since Tuesday.

"In this election, the BJP is miserably losing in Gujarat and has become so rattled that it has stooped to the level of kidnapping our candidate from Surat East," Sisodia said.

However, soon videos of Jariwala reaching the office of the Returning Officer to withdraw his nomination surfaced.

AAP alleged that he was forcefully brought to the RO by the police. Surat Police Commissioner Ajay Tomar told PTI that the issue has come to his notice.

'I have come to know about it and we are trying to find out. I have put my teams on the job and we will find it out. We have not received any formal complaint yet but since this has come to my notice, I am working on it,' the police official said.

With the elections due in December, the new entrant in the Gujarat politics is putting out all efforts to make its presence felt in an otherwise bipolar state. The claims around their candidate's kidnapping seem part of the same effort.

(with inputs from PTI)