Kejriwal threatening voters to stop development works if Arora not elected: Complaint to CEO

Requesting for “legal action against open and direct threat to voters of Ludhiana”, Rawal in his complaint wrote: “The creator of the Indian Constitution, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, has given every citizen of India this legal right to vote for anyone according to his/her own opinion without any bias, fear, and without any discrimination. It is a legal crime to intimidate a voter in any way. The Indian Constitution has appointed the Election Commission as the responsible body for conducting a fair and impartial election system.”

“The elections for Ludhiana West constituency are going to be held on 19 June 2025, for which the entire government staff of the Punjab government has been put on alert… It seems this is not an election, but a war is being fought… Aam Aadmi Party’s National Convener Shri Arvind Kejriwal directly threatened the voters of the West constituency, saying, ‘If you vote for any other candidate and win, there will be no development work in your area.. The government is ours’,” reads the complaint. “In several of his campaign speeches in Ludhiana, Kejriwal said: ‘Jiski sarkaar hai ussi ka MLA banana (Elect only that party’s MLA who is running the government).”

“Kejriwal also said that Mr Sanjeev Arora is a rich man. Apart from the government, he can also spend money from his own pocket. I am sending you copies of his statement and video clip as evidence, which directly intimidates and lures the voters to vote for his candidate who is a current Rajya Sabha member. It is a crime to threaten the voters this way…The voters of Ludhiana West should be allowed to fulfil their responsibility to vote impartially and fearlessly and protect the rights of Punjab, Punjabis and Punjabiyat. The Hon’ble Supreme Court should be informed about his intimidation and threats to the Punjabis,” said Rawal in his complaint.

In one of his recent speeches, Kejriwal said: “A man came to me and I asked him “for whom will you vote?” He said (Bharat Bhushan) Ashu (Congress candidate). I asked why. He said because “I am a traditional Congress supporter”. I said tell me one thing. If the road in front of your house needs repairs, if you stop getting water supply, or if there’s any other issue.. who will get your works done? Ashu can’t get your works done because he is in Congress whereas government in Punjab is of AAP and CM Bhagwant Mann is ours. From will Ashu get funds and power to get your works done? Ashu is in Opposition who can neither get your roads made nor parks. Hence vote for AAP if you want your works done.”

Reacting to the complaint, Punjab AAP spokesperson Neel Garg said: “It is not a threat. He just means to say that if the MLA and government are of the same party, then there will be better coordination for conducting development works at a faster pace. BJP often says that there should be ‘double engine’ sarkaar at the Centre and in the state. We only mean to say that it will only lead to better coordination if the MLA and the state government are from the same party.”

Punjab chief electoral officer Sibin C said: “We have to check and examine the parts of speech in the context of model code of conduct (MCC) rules to see if there has been any violation. Action will be taken accordingly.”