AAP workers demanded money: Kanchan Jariwala cites reason behind withdrawing nomination

Aam Aadmi Party candidate, Kanchan Jariwala, who withdrew his nominations from Gujarat's Surat East seat after the 'kidnapping drama' today said that he withdrew his nomination as the party workers was demanding money.

Refuting allegations of kidnapping by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AAP candidate said that he was not capable to spend Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore for contesting election.

"Reason for withdrawing my nomination was that (AAP) workers in Surat (East) Assembly started resigning. The workers started demanding money. I'm not capable enough to spend Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore," Jariwala said.



"There was a lot of pressure from the party. People were harassing me by calling again and again. I went away with my son's friends. There was no one from BJP. What I have to do now, I will tell after five to seven days," he added.

Earlier in the day, the AAP had alleged that the ruling BJP has kidnapped its candidate and has forced him to withdraw nomination papers as party's Surat East candidate in Gujarat.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi's deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had staged dharma in front of Election Commission of India's "Nirvachan Sadan" in New Delhi demanding action in this regard.

Sisodia had also alleged that the BJP "kidnapped" the party's candidate from Gujarat's Surat (East) while also accusing the ruling party of trying to "get his nomination rejected".

Meanwhile, Election Commission has asked the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat to investigate and take action "as warranted" in the matted.

Regarding the AAP candidate from Surat East taking back his nomination, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said, "A few weeks ago they said the same thing in Delhi that their MLA has gone. They make such statements to gain media publicity and hide corruption. AAP and Kejriwal have established a new age of lies."

The voting for the Gujarat Assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 while the counting of votes will be done on December 8.

The last dates of withdrawal of nominations are November 17 and 21 for the first and second phases respectively.

(Inputs from ANI)