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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the upcoming assembly elections will be fought on the basis of the Aam Aadmi Party government's work and noted that his party will run a 'positive' campaign.
Addressing a press conference after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule, the AAP national convener appealed to the people to put behind their political preferences and vote in favour of progress and development of Delhi..
He said the AAP would conduct "positive campaigning" and accept suggestions from the opposition to add to their manifesto for the next tenure.
"The Aam Aadmi Party is prepared for the elections. The Delhi Assembly elections will be held based on the development done by us. The people of Delhi have decided to vote on the basis of the improvement in the infrastructure of government schools and hospitals," he said.
"We count these votes as positive votes, which will be in our favour because of all the development made by us in Delhi. I believe this is happening for the first time in the history of politics of independent India. People will compare the work (done) by each party in Delhi," he added.
Kejriwal appealed to the people of Delhi to "vote for us (AAP) only if you think we have done good work in the last five years".
"If I have done work, then vote for me. If I have not done work, then don't vote for me," said Kejriwal.
He urged supporters of the Bharatiye Janata Party and the Congress to vote for Delhi and not for 'your political party'.
"We will ask for votes from BJP supporters as well as Congress supporters. We will go door-to-door and urge supporters of the Congress and the BJP to vote for us," he said.
Kejriwal said the AAP would run a 'positive campaign' and not abuse anyone.
"All (BJP president and Union Home Minister) Amit Shah ji did in his speech recently was abuse me. I will not indulge in anything like that. We will not abuse anyone.
"In 70 years, for the first time, people will vote on schools and hospitals. Our whole campaign will be a positive campaign," he added.
He said this time people will cast their vote on the basis of the positive work done by the AAP government.
Earlier, he said on Twitter that the election will be fought on the basis of the AAP government's work.
Kejriwal appealed to the opposition to give suggestions to add to their manifesto for the next tenure.
"We will be presenting our manifesto soon, and I want to request the BJP to share their vision with us, suggest steps for the welfare of Delhi. We are open to adding all their positive suggestions to our manifesto and will work on them in the next five years.
"We need the support of all the parties as well as 2 crore people of Delhi in working for the progress of Delhi," he added.
He also said that the people of Delhi have decided to break their previous record of electing them on 67 out of 70 assembly seats.
When asked about issues concerning Delhi on which the elections will be conducted this time, Kejriwal said, "The elections in Delhi will be conducted on the basis of education, health, development of unauthorised colonies, free provision of water and power, CCTV cameras and street lights installation, Teerth-Yatra and several other developmental works done across the city."
"The progress of Delhi is running at a speed of 100 km/hr, now the people will accelerate this progress to a speed of 200 km/hr on February 8. The leaders have not questioned our performance or our work across various sectors, but have only cursed me in their speeches.
"I think they also believe in the phrase, 'Acche Beete Paanch Saal, Lage Raho Kejriwal' (the party's slogan for upcoming polls)," he added.
The election to the 70-member Delhi assembly will take place on February 8 and results will be declared on February 11, the Election Commission announced on Monday.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said the notification for the polls will be issued on January 14 while the last date of withdrawal of candidature will be January 24..
Edited by Utkarsh Mishra