As polling commenced in Delhi, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi cast his vote during the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections on Saturday.
Displaying his inked finger, Tiwari commented, “Today, people are voting in the favour of nation and country and they are voting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this cause.”
Addressing the challenges posed by opposition bloc INDIA’s candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, Tiwari criticized Kumar, stating that people who disparaged the national army, wished for terrorists like Afzal to emerge from every house, and celebrated the loss of paramilitary forces cannot be seen as a threat.
Tiwari remarked, “Opposition candidate Kanhaiya Kumar has shown his true identity by abusing our national army, reciting ‘har ghar Afzal niklega,’ and celebrating the loss of lives of our paramilitary forces against Naxalites in Chhattisgarh. People will not waste their votes on such leaders. This election is about choosing the Prime Minister of India, and Modi Ji resides in the hearts of the people. They will vote for the BJP and the nation. He quoted, ‘Vote Narendra Modi Ji Ko, Vote Desh Ko, Vote Kamal Ko.'”
When questioned about the impact of recent events in Delhi, such as the Swati Maliwal case and the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Tiwari responded, “The people who protect the corrupt and beat women in their homes with pride and dictatorship will be beaten by Delhi’s voters today. The voters will respond with their votes.”
Manoj Tiwari is the incumbent MP of North East Delhi, having won the seat in 2014 and 2019. In 2019, Kanhaiya Kumar ran as a Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate from Begusarai in Bihar, where he lost to Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Giriraj Singh. Kumar later joined Congress in 2021.
The Congress is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the AAP in Delhi. Under the seat-sharing arrangement, Congress is contesting three seats while AAP has fielded candidates in four constituencies in Delhi.
The seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the capital are New Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi, West Delhi, Chandni Chowk, North West, and North East Delhi.