A day after the BJP filed a complaint against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with the Election Commission (EC), AAP has lodged a counter-complaint accusing it of “violence and intimidation”. It also sought an independent inquiry into the recent clashes in front of the BJP office in Delhi.

In a letter to the EC, signed by senior AAP leader Pankaj Gupta, the party has accused BJP of violence and intimidation of its leaders and workers in different parts of the country, including Gujarat and Lucknow.

Detailing the alleged attacks by BJP workers in Gujarat on Kejriwal’s vehicle in Radhanpur and Kharohi villages and another one on Manish Sisodia in Banaskantha district, the AAP said such attacks would “vitiate the entire political atmosphere and have a serious impact on the conduct of free and fair elections all over the country.”

On the clashes front of the BJP headquarters on Wednesday, for which AAP has already been served a notice by the EC, the party said “our volunteers were agitated by the detention of Arvind Kejriwal and protested outside the BJP headquarters,” adding that they were sloganeering and were water-cannoned after which “they were violently attacked from inside the BJP office by stones, bricks, furniture, stocks and bottles.”

The AAP admitted that “some of its volunteers retaliated….and threw back stones.” The party said television footage would prove the involvement of BJP workers as also “photographic evidence that BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli attacked one volunteer with a lathi.” It said police action, however, had only been taken against AAP volunteers and no FIR had been registered against anyone in the BJP.

AAP urged the EC to ensure that such “attacks, violence and intimidation” is not repeated.

Related Topics