Gujarat Assembly polls | AAP candidate withdraws nomination, party accuses BJP of pressuring him

Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 8

The Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Surat East Assembly seat candidate in Gujarat withdrew his nomination on Wednesday, with the AAP alleging that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pressured him to do so.

The BJP, however, denied the charge and asked the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP to "take care of its own house".

Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.

State AAP president Gopal Italia claimed their Surat East candidate Kanchan Jariwala appeared before the office of the Returning Officer on Wednesday under heavy police protection and surrounded by "BJP goons" to withdraw his candidature under the pressure of the ruling party.

When mediapersons questioned Mr. Jariwala, he was hurriedly whisked away by the persons surrounding him.

Mr. Italia alleged that Mr. Jariwala had gone missing and was allegedly taken to an undisclosed location by the BJP goons who put pressure on him to stay away from the election.

However, Surat city BJP president Niranjan Zanzmera refuted the allegations and said the AAP should instead "take care of its own house."