Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal filed his nomination on Tuesday after waiting for over six hours, Aam Aadmi Party said, and held the BJP responsible for the delay, a charge dismissed as "drama" by the saffron party.
Kejriwal, who was scheduled to file his papers on Monday, could not do so as he got delayed due to his own roadshow. Tuesday was the last day of filing of nominations for February 8 Delhi Assembly polls, results of which will be declared on February 11.
Accompanied by his family members, including parents and senior party leaders, the Delhi Chief Minister filed his nomination from the New Delhi constituency, which he won in 2015 by a huge margin of over 27,000 votes.
While waiting for his turn, Kejriwal tweeted,"my token no is 45. There are many people here to file nomination papers. Am so glad so many people participating in democracy."
In a photo posted on Twitter, Kejriwal could be seen waiting along with several people to file his nomination papers.
A number of AAP leaders alleged that around 35 candidates with incomplete papers were insisting that they will not allow the chief minister to file unless their nominations were filed.
"No matter how much you conspire, you will not be able to stop Kejriwal from filing his nomination or from becoming the chief minister for the third time," Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted tagging the BJP.
"Your conspiracies will not yield any result," he added.
Earlier, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj in a tweet had alleged that around 35 candidates were sitting in the New Delhi SDM's Jamnagar House office along with the chief minister without proper nomination papers or even 10 proposers.
Hitting back at the AAP, Delhi BJP's spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor dismissed these allegations as "drama", and alleged that the delay was "orchestrated" by the AAP itself.
"If they wanted, they could have reached at 11 in the morning but they wanted TV footage for which they did all this drama," Kapoor alleged.
A senior official in the Delhi CEO Office said, "all procedures, as laid down, were followed for the nomination process for the New Delhi constituency".
Tuesday being the last day to file nominations, so there is a lot of rush from various candidates, he added.
According to procedures, while the time for filing nominations ends at 3 pm, candidates who have collected tokens to file their papers before the stipulated time are allowed to do so.
The last day of nominations turned more dramatic when two groups --'#1857dobara' and a union of sacked DTC employees-- fielded their members to register their protest against Kejriwal.
The group of people under the banner of '#1857dobara' fielded around 150 candidates as independents.
"The only reason we chose New Delhi assembly was because Kejriwal started his movement from here but himself started selling tickets," said Raghav Tiwari, an advocate who facilitated in filing of nominations of '#1857dobara' members.
He also said that these are the same people who have been previously associated with the Anna Hazare movement. However, he refuted reports that it was purposely done to delay the nomination of Kejriwal.
Another group of sacked DTC employees who fielded its 25 members said it was done to register their protest against the chief minister.
"We wanted to show the Aam Aadmi Party, which has become Khaas Aadmi Party, its place," said Balmiki Jaha, president of the union.
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