NEW DELHI: A high drama unfolded outside Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's residence in Delhi on Thursday as EC officials tried to conduct a search of the premises following allegation that money was being distributed from the property ahead of the February 5 assembly polls.
Mann, who has been campaigning for AAP in Delhi, hit back at the Election Commission (EC) and the Delhi Police, accusing them of trying to "defame Punjabis" at the behest of the BJP.
AAP leaders, including party supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, doubled down to defend Mann and accused the poll authority of turning a blind eye to the BJP "openly" distributing money.
After more than two hours, the EC team, accompanied by Delhi Police personnel, returned empty-handed.
An EC official said a complaint was received regarding the distribution of cash and it had to be disposed of within 100 minutes but permission was not granted to conduct a search.
The complaint was received through an official app, he said.
"This is to clarify the actions taken in response to cVIGIL Complaint ID 1282744 regarding the alleged distribution of cash at Kapurthala House, New Delhi, which falls under jurisdiction of AC-40, New Delhi," the New Delhi District Election Office said in a post on X.
According to protocol, the flying squad team of the New Delhi Assembly constituency, stationed nearby, was assigned the task by the control room to investigate the complaint and close it by taking appropriate action within the stipulated 100-minute time-frame, it said.
In a post on X later in the day, Mann alleged the Delhi Police raided Kapurthala House -- the Punjab chief minister's official residence in Delhi -- and even checked boxes of clothes of his family's women members.
"Today, the Delhi Police raided the chief minister's residence Kapurthala House in Delhi. The entire house was searched. They even checked the boxes of clothes of the women in my family. Will you tell me what was found?" Mann asked.
"The houses of BJP leaders are just 500 metres away from the Delhi Police office, will it dare raid their homes? Or has it got permission only to search homes of AAP leaders and Punjabis?" he questioned.
Raiding the home of a chief minister like this is highly condemnable, he asserted.
While the flying squad team managed to enter the premises, it could not search the rooms.
"The search could not be done as the rooms were locked. We cannot wait till eternity and (are) now going back," the EC official said as he came out of Kapurthala House.
A Punjab government official claimed that permission was granted for eight members of the team but they returned without conducting a search.
In an earlier post on X, Mann alleged that the EC could not see the "open distribution" of money by the BJP and was instead trying to search his residence.
An EC team with the Delhi Police reached Kapurthala House to conduct a search.
The EC and the Delhi Police are not able to see people associated with the BJP "openly distributing" money.
No action is taken against them. The Delhi Police and the EC, in a way, have "defamed" Punjabis at the behest of the BJP, he charged.
Kejriwal also lashed out at the poll authority, accusing it of feigning "blindness" and the BJP of "open hooliganism".
The AAP supremo said in a post on X, "BJP leaders are openly distributing money, jackets, saris, shoes. The police and the EC are acting blind despite seeing everything. The law has become a joke for the BJP." He also charged that the EC "raided" Mann's residence without any proof.
"If this is not hooliganism, then what is? The BJP has turned the government system into its fiefdom."
Kejriwal alleged that the Punjab chief minister and every Punjabi had been "insulted" and asserted that people would not sit silent.
Chief Minister Atishi, whose roadshow in Kalkaji the Punjab chief minister was participating in at the time of "raid", alleged that those associated with the BJP were "openly" distributing money, shoes, slippers and bedsheets.
But the police cannot see that, instead reaching the home of an elected chief minister for a "raid", she alleged.
A senior officer said Delhi Police personnel accompanied the EC officials for protection.
The development comes a day after a private vehicle bearing a "Punjab government" sticker and registration number of the state was seized by the Delhi Police.
The Delhi Police has registered a case after the vehicle parked near the Punjab Bhawan was found loaded with liquor, cash and AAP election publicity materials.
AAP supremo Kejriwal, who has held the New Delhi seat since 2013, is seeking re-election and is pitted against the BJP's Parvesh Verma and the Congress' Sandeep Dikshit in a fierce, triangular contest.
