Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should cooperate with the Election Commission team

New Delhi: On Thursday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ought to have complied with the Election Commission‘s team when they planned to search his official Delhi house, Kapurthala House.

Sarma advised Mann to avoid making counter-allegations, highlighting the EC’s independence and said that he was free to lodge a complaint with the election authority if he had any worries about the BJP.

Following a report about suspected “cash distribution” via the EC’s cVIGIL app, the search was started.

“Wherever a complaint is received, the Election Commission, an impartial entity, will take appropriate action. Since Bhagwant Mann holds a constitutional position, he ought to assist the team throughout their search. Additionally, he should avoid making counter-allegations. You may protest to the EC if you believe the BJP has done anything, but when the team arrives for a search, you should comply,” Sarma urged.

Amid reports of searches at Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s Kapurthala House in the nation’s capital, the Election Commission of India’s New Delhi district section released an explanation earlier on Thursday.

According to the commission, a complaint received via the ‘cVIGIL’ program was sent to the Flying Squad Team (FST) for investigation.

“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 the jurisdiction of AC-40, New Delhi,” the district election office said on X.

“The FST arrived at Kapurthala House, the site of the alleged breach, as soon as they received the report. However, the security staff is preventing the team from entering the building to confirm the allegation,” the tweet said.

According to OP Pandey, the returning officer for the New Delhi constituency, the search was not possible since the rooms’ doors were shut.

In response, Mann claimed in a post on X that the Election Commission and Delhi Police were disparaging Punjabis at the BJP’s request.

Bhagwant Mann, the chief minister of Punjab, also said that Delhi Police had raided his home in the capital, the Kapurthala House, and that they had searched every room in it, including a cabin that had clothes for his family’s female members.

“My Chief Minister’s home, Kapurthala House in Delhi, was searched by Delhi Police today. They searched the whole home. They even looked through my family’s women’s clothing boxes. Can you tell me what was discovered? In a post on X, Mann inquired.

He issued a challenge to Delhi Police to carry out “raids” at the homes of BJP officials, which are just 500 meters from the party’s headquarters. He said that this demonstrates the BJP’s annoyance.

Will the Delhi Police office dare to search the homes of BJP members who live about 500 meters away? Or can this just occur with Punjabis and the Aam Aadmi Party? This is all a result of the BJP’s (impending) loss anguish. It is absolutely unacceptable to raid a chief minister’s home in this manner,” Mann said.

He further emphasized that although Parvesh Verma, the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is “openly distributing” money, no action is being taken against him.

Notably, Verma, a BJP candidate for the New Delhi Assembly, has been accused by the Aam Aadmi Party on many occasions of providing money and various other goods in advance of the assembly polls.

Although they are unable to see him, Parvesh Verma is freely disbursing money. He tweets the location of his money distribution. That is something they ignore. However, the raid is carried out at the homes of Saurabh Bharadwaj, Arvind Kejriwal, and Bhagwant Mann. Are we criminals? “What have we done?” Speaking to the crowd during a public demonstration in Greater Kailash, Mann said.

Manish Sisodia, a former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader, said that the Election Commission was treating people unfairly.

“The EC is not seeing the BJP’s distribution of cash, sarees, and other items. The EC creates false rumors and carries out fictitious raids. People need to verify the information.

According to AAP leader Durgesh Pathak, Delhi residents support the governing party.We learned that the Punjab Chief Minister’s home (Kapurthala House) is being raided by Delhi Police and ECI. The BJP’s open money distribution is visible to the whole globe, yet the ECI is blind to it. “The public supports us,” he said.

Arvind Kejriwal, national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, charged the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday night with providing “money” and “gold chains” in advance of the Delhi assembly elections. In a jab, he said that while BJP officials are giving cash and other goods, “raids are being conducted” at Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s home.

At a roadshow for the Kirari assembly elections, Kejriwal told reporters, “I don’t understand this when the BJP leaders are distributing money and other items, including sarees, jackets, shoes, shawls, and gold chains, but the raid is being conducted on Punjab CM.”

Kejriwal also charged the BJP with engaging in “hooliganism” in a post on X for reportedly storming Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s home.

Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party (SP), who accompanied Kejriwal, said that the BJP was using raids as a tactic because it was alarmed by the AAP’s “positive” tactics.

“BJP should acknowledge that the nation will not benefit from nasty politics. They will lose (in the assembly elections) to the good politics of the AAP. They are disturbed because of this. For this reason, they are using raids as a tool. “They’re plunging,” Yadav said.