Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday gave ticket to Abdul Rehman to contest from New Delhi’s Seelampur constituency in upcoming elections. Rehman, along with ex-Congress MLA Mateen Ahmed, have been named in an FIR by Delhi Police for ‘provoking the crowd’ to join the protests.
According to the FIR, a crowd had gathered at Seelampur T-point and had started pelting stones and throwing petrol bottles at police. At around 2:30 PM, an uncontrolled mob marched toward Jafrabad Police Station and Rahman had allegedly provoked people from nearby streets to join the mob. Rehman is currently East Delhi Councillor.
In December 2019, a rioting crowd in Delhi’s Seelampur set a schoolbus on fire and also resorted to beating up policemen. A Police post was also set on fire by the mob along with police and private motorcycles. Drone cameras were brought in to assess the rioters. The mob reportedly taunted the policemen to run after them following which they pelted stones at them.
Read: Seelampur violence: Announcements for mobilisation were made from local Mosques, says report
As anti-CAA rioters took to violence in New Delhi’s Seelampur, it was an Azaan, a call for namaz, that led to the rioting crowd to disperse. Following the azaan, the stone-pelters who were attacking police calmed down and simply stood in the street. Delhi Police saw an opportunity to control the mob and reached the mosque to appeal for peace to people. Police first talked to the members of peace committee and then the other people present there. Soon after the azaan, an appeal for peace was also made from the loudspeakers.
In the candidate list released yesterday, AAP has repeated 46 sitting MLAs while 15 sitting MLAs have been replaced and 9 vacant seats are given to new candidates. Arvind Kejriwal will contest elections from New Delhi constituency while Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will contest from Patparganj.
