2 min readVadodaraMay 11, 2026 06:49 PM IST
Days after the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) Chhota Udepur president Radhika Rathwa accused the district police of intimidating the party’s candidates, who won in the April 26 local body polls, an FIR has been registered against her for “giving false” impressions about the police to the people.
In a video she had posted on social media, Rathwa alleged that Chhota Udepur police personnel were taking AAP candidates in vehicles to different locations and threatening them to “switch sides” after the election results as the AAP had emerged as a major challenger in the tribal belt of the state.
Following the post, Bodeli police registered an FIR against Rathwa under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to allegedly ‘spreading false information’ and ‘fabricating false evidence’.
The controversy came after the AAP’s significant gains in the Chhota Udepur district panchayat elections, which is traditionally seen as a BJP-Congress battleground. The AAP scored a major victory in Kawant taluka panchayat of the district, winning 16 of 26 seats, while the BJP secured nine and the Congress just one.
The party also forced a deadlock with the BJP in the newly carved Kadwal taluka panchayat as well as at the once Congress-dominated Chhota Udepur taluka panchayat. In Kadwal, both the BJP and the AAP won eight seats each, while in Chhota Udepur both parties bagged 13 seats apiece. In Naswadi, the BJP remained ahead with 13 seats, while the AAP won seven and the Congress two seats.
The FIR against Rathwa drew a strong reaction from Dediapada MLA and tribal leader Chaitar Vasava, who is also the party’s Gujarat working president. Chaitar termed the case “false” and warned of mass protests if any arrest was made. In a video message on Sunday, Chaitar said, “If Radhika Rathwa is arrested, the entire tribal society will unite… The police machinery unabashedly acts under political pressure of ‘kamalam’ (referring to the BJP headquarters) instead of maintaining law and order… AAP candidates are being pressured to join the ruling party through tactics of ‘saam’, ‘daam’, ‘dand’, ‘bhed’ (persuasion, inducement, punishment and division), but we are not afraid of false cases.”
