Amid a row over the postponement of elections for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, 23 March, said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will quit politics if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) allows the polls to be conducted on time and still wins them.
"We will leave politics if BJP gets the MCD polls held now and wins it," Kejriwal said, while speaking to reporters outside the Delhi Vidhan Sabha.
"BJP is postponing MCD elections so that all three municipal corporations of Delhi can be unified. Can elections be postponed because of this? Tomorrow they will be losing Gujarat, so can they avoid that saying that they are uniting Gujarat and Maharashtra? Can Lok Sabha elections be postponed by making such an excuse?"Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
'They Are Postponing MCD Elections Today; Tomorrow They Will...'
Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal wrote that the deferment of the MCD polls was an insult to the martyrs of the country who had fought to establish a democratic government.
"BJP's postponement of Delhi Municipal Corporation elections is an insult to the martyrs who had made sacrifices to establish democracy in the country by driving the British out of the country. Today they are postponing the Delhi Municipal Corporation elections due to fear of defeat, tomorrow they will postpone the elections of the states and the country."
"BJP calls itself the largest party in the world. Wonderful. World's largest party ran away from a small Aam Aadmi Party in panic? If you have guts, get the MCD elections conducted on time," he added.
The state election commission (SEC) on 9 March – the day it was to announce the dates for Delhi’s three civic body polls – said that the MCD polls were being deferred, citing a communication from Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.
Reportedly, Baijal had conveyed to the SEC that the Centre was intending to pass legislation to merge the three municipal corporations of Delhi.
Meanwhile, the AAP on 17 March moved the Supreme Court, seeking directions to the SEC to conduct municipal elections without any interference from the Centre.
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