New Delhi, 22 Feb

A fresh summons issued by the ED to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is an attempt by the BJP to take "revenge" for the Supreme Court verdict on the Chandigarh mayoral poll in favour of the AAP, party leader Atishi alleged on Thursday.

There was no immediate reaction from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the allegation.

Addressing a press conference at the Delhi Assembly, Atishi claimed that the ED summons was an attempt to scare Kejriwal and the AAP.

The ED has issued a seventh summons to Kejriwal, asking him to appear before the agency on 26 February for questioning in a money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy for Delhi for 2021-22, official sources said on Thursday.

Kejriwal has so far skipped all the summonses issued by the ED, terming those "illegal".

"This summons is just an attempt at revenge by the BJP for the Supreme Court upholding democracy in its verdict on the Chandigarh mayoral poll. This is a revenge for the AAP's victory in the Chandigarh mayoral poll," Atishi said.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday overturned the result of the Chandigarh mayoral poll, in which the BJP candidate had emerged an unlikely winner, and declared the AAP-Congress alliance nominee, Kuldeep Kumar, as the new mayor.

Atishi said the ED itself went to court over Kejriwal skipping its summonses and wondered why the agency could not wait for the court's order in the matter.

The ED has approached the Rouse Avenue Court here over Kejriwal skipping its summonses. The court has directed the AAP national convenor to be physically present before it on March 16.

Atishi said the AAP and Kejriwal are not going to be scared by the ED summonses and will continue their fight against the BJP to protect the country's democracy.