Delhi Election: Arvind Kejriwal to file nomination today

AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will file his nomination for the Assembly election from the New Delhi constituency on Wednesday.

Kejriwal claimed that many "mothers and sisters" of the national capital would accompany him to the election office and bless him.

The former Delhi Chief Minister said that before filing the nomination, he would visit the Valmiki and Hanuman temples to seek divine blessings.

In a post on social media platform X, the AAP chief said: "Today will be filing nomination for the polls. Many mothers and sisters will be accompanying me to bless me. Will visit Hanuman and Valmiki temples to seek blessings before filing nominations."

Kejriwal will file the nomination from the New Delhi Assembly constituency. The BJP has put up Parvesh Verma as its candidate from the constituency and Sandeep Dikshit is the Congress nominee.

Meanwhile, the Centre has given the go-ahead to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute Kejriwal in a money laundering case.

The Union Home Ministry has granted permission to the ED to prosecute Kejriwal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the excise policy case.

In December, Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena gave the nod to the agency to prosecute Kejriwal.

Kejriwal and AAP have been accused of receiving bribes from the 'South Group', a cartel which controlled the sale and distribution of liquor in the national capital and allegedly benefitted from the excise policy framed by the Delhi government for 2021-22.

Kejriwal, who is currently out on bail, has denied the charges against them and accused the BJP of misusing central agencies to "harass" political rivals.

The high-decibel electioneering saw AAP, BJP and Congress in a triangular contest accusing each other of corruption and cheating people.

Besides facing allegations of corruption in the excise policy case, Kejriwal has been drawing criticism for alleged lavish spending on his official residence when he was the Chief Minister of the national capital.

The Sheesh Mahal row is one of the major issues on which the political parties are gheraoing the AAP Convenor.

Election to the 70-member Assembly will be held on February 5 and the counting of votes on February 8.