NEW DELHI: Indian opposition politician Arvind Kejriwal has urged citizens to “vote against dictatorship” Saturday following casting his vote in the country’s six-week election.
In a statement, the leader of the Aam Aadmi party and Chief Minister of Delhi said, “Please vote, use your right to vote, and vote against dictatorship,”. Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in March in a graft investigation and held for several weeks of the campaign. The Supreme Court bailed him earlier this month and Kejriwal has returned to the campaign trail, urging people to take part in the elections.
The sixth phase of India’s election has started, with top rivals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to vote in New Delhi following accusing him of unfairly targeting them with criminal investigations.
Narendra Modi, prospects have been further bolstered by many criminal probes into his political rivals, sparking concerns from rights groups and United Nations rights chief Volker Turk over the elections’ fairness.
Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party is spearheading the opposition alliance of more than two-dozen parties contesting jointly against Modi. Rahul Gandhi was also convicted of criminal libel last year following a complaint by a member of BJP. Gandhi’s two-year prison sentence saw him disqualified from parliament until the decision was suspended by the court.
As per western and local media report, turnout is down several percentage points from the last elections in 2019 due to heatwave. Over 968 million people are eligible to vote in the Indian polls, with the final round of polling on June 1st and results expected three days later.
