Ahead of the Assembly Elections in Goa, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates on Wednesday signed a legal affidavit and took an oath to remain loyal to the party. The candidates further pledged that they will work honestly if they are elected in the upcoming polls.  

AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on the occasion that while all party candidates are honest people, they still decided to go ahead with the signing of this affidavit in order to assure the voters of the state of Goa, where the party is looking to emerge as a big force this time. 

“All of our candidates are honest but this affidavit is needed to assure voters that these candidates are honest,” the AAP chief stated. 

Kejriwal said copies of these affidavits will be made available to voters so that they can file a case against them later if the trust is breached. 

“Our candidates will send photocopies of the signed affidavit to every household in their constituency. By doing this, we’re giving a right to voters to file a case of breach of trust against our candidates if they violate the terms of the affidavit,” Kejriwal said. 

Kejriwal, who is in Goa for four days ahead of the February 14 elections, said the incumbent BJP is aiming to come back to power in the state by using the “strategy” of planning to woo Congress legislators after the elections. 

Kejriwal told reporters at the airport, “This Assembly Election is crucial for Goa. Goans must decide what is best for them. One option is to support the AAP, which has promised a corruption-free government. Another option is to support the BJP directly or indirectly. In the last election, Goans were fed up with the BJP government and chose the Congress. But Congress MLAs let them down.” 

“The BJP has planned a new strategy. Once Congress candidates win their seats, they are going to join the BJP,” he added. 

In the last elections in 2017, the Congress had emerged as the single-largest party. However, it had failed to form the government and over the course of next few years, most of the party MLAs jumped ship.