NEW DELHI: Delhi Speaker Ram Niwas Goel and Deputy Mayor Aaley Mohd Iqbal have been placed under house arrest ahead of the protest planned by the Aam Aadmi Party, Gopal Rai said at a press conference on Friday.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that several AAP MLAs and volunteers coming to participate in the party's protest outside the BJP headquarters here against the "cheating" in the Chandigarh mayoral polls were being stopped or detained.
Security has been stepped-up in Central Delhi with police barricading several roads leading to the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg and deploying additional personnel in view of the Aam Aadmi Party's demonstration as well as a protest by the BJP against "corruption" in the Kejriwal government. The BJP will stage its protest near the AAP head office.
The offices of both the parties are on the same road, a few hundred metres from each other.
"First votes were stolen in the Chandigarh mayoral elections. Now, people coming to protest peacefully against this are being stopped at various places across Delhi," Kejriwal said in a post on X, ahead of the demonstration scheduled to begin at 11 am.
In another post, he said that "across Delhi, they are detaining elected MLAs, councillors and volunteers, who were coming to the party office".
"What is this going on?" he asked.
Officials said roads leading to the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg have been closed since morning and barricades have been set up near the headquarters of the BJP and the AAP.
In a post on X, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Atishi said, "Heavy barricading all across Delhi. Buses full of AAP volunteers being detained. Hundreds of para-military forces outside the AAP office."
"Why is the BJP so scared of a protest on the Chandigarh mayor elections?" she asked.
Her cabinet colleague Saurabh Bharadwaj in a video statement asked whether the BJP was scared of Kejriwal.
"The entire entire country saw how votes were stolen in the Chandigarh mayoral polls by the BJP. Two elected chief ministers -- Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann are coming to protest against it," he said.
"But we have learnt that our councillors, MLAs and party workers coming to their own party office are being detained. Is BJP scared of Kejriwal? I request people to maintain peace and reach the protest site," the AAP leader said.
The BJP on Tuesday swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls, retaining all three posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, in a setback to the Congress-AAP alliance which has alleged tampering with ballot papers by the presiding officer.
