Hundreds of people attend Sunita Kejriwal's maiden roadshow in Delhi

Blue and yellow flags and banners of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) painted Delhi's Kalyanpuri area on Saturday, 27 April, as hundreds of women donning caps and scarfs with the party's logo attended Sunita Kejriwal's maiden roadshow amid "Jail ke tale tutengey, Kejriwal chhutengey" slogans.

Standing through the sunroof of a vehicle, Sunita Kejriwal, whose husband and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest pushed her to the forefront of the AAP's Lok Sabha poll campaign, greeted locals in the Kondli area of East Delhi constituency with folded hands. She was campaigning for AAP's East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar.

As the carcade snaked through the narrow lanes with a sea of AAP supporters carrying the Delhi chief minister's cut-outs, she shook hands with several women and targeted the ruling BJP at the Centre, saying her husband was jailed because he built schools, provided free electricity and opened Mohalla Clinics in the national capital.

Arvind Kejriwal, AAP's national convenor, is behind bars in a money laundering case, linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, currently being investigated by federal agencies.

Flanked by leaders of the Congress, the AAP's partner in the opposition INDIA bloc and ally for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Sunita Kejriwal asserted that their alliance will sweep all seats in the national capital as loudspeakers blared patriotic songs.

Folk artists from Uttarakhand were seen performing in the roadshow and raising slogans of 'Jail ka jawab vote se' amid beats of Nashik dhols.

As the roadshow passed through the area, locals lined up the streets to greet the chief minister's wife. Vimla Devi, one of the residents of the area, claimed the arrest of the chief minister just before the elections was not right.

"We feel that the INDIA alliance will sweep the Lok Sabha polls since the chief minister is seeking votes on (the plank of) development. He has given citizens of the national capital a lot of facilities. People will surely vote in his favour," she added.

A resident of the Khichadipur area, Sonu Kumar claimed that voting for the ongoing election seems to have been "fixed".

"The chief minister of Delhi was focusing on development and also asking people to vote for him to further the development of the national capital. The arrest of the sitting CM just before the elections seems to be a political move," he said.

Rajkumar, a resident, said although he supported the arrest of Kejriwal, the timing could have been better. "It should have happened earlier if he has done something wrong," he added.

His brother Rajesh Kumar claimed that the step would surely affect the BJP in the elections.

Kishan Lal, who is a first-time voter, said he wanted AAP to win in Delhi even though he was against the opposition alliance. "I am not in favour of this alliance, but want AAP to win all seven seats (in Delhi) in this election," he added.

Another local, Shriprakash Prasad, who runs a shop in the locality, said that the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal would surely affect the elections as it seems like people will vote in his favour.

"Everyone is happy with Kejriwal and since his wife is campaigning for him, he will also get a good amount of sympathy votes," Prasad said.

Anwari, who shook hands with Sunita Kejriwal, said, "I am very happy that the wife of the chief minister greeted me and also shook hands with me. The crowd at the roadshow was large and this shows that people will also go in large numbers to support them on 25 May."

Voting in all seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi will be held in the sixth phase of the general election on 25 May.