Delhi Assembly polls: Kejriwal-led AAP delegation meets EC over voter names 'deletion' issue

New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) An Aam Aadmi Party delegation led by its chief Arvind Kejriwal met the Election Commission on Wednesday and urged it to halt any deletion of voter names in the electoral rolls ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections.

After the meeting, the AAP national convenor alleged that the BJP was orchestrating a conspiracy to remove voters, mostly from marginalised communities, including Dalits, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Purvanchalis, from the electoral rolls.

Kejriwal claimed the EC gave them several assurances, including that no large-scale deletions would occur before the Delhi elections and strict action would be taken against those filing questionable deletion requests.

Responding to the accusations, the Delhi BJP said AAP is looking for excuses to cover up its defeat in the upcoming elections, and the campaign to get illegal voter names removed will continue.

Kejriwal said that the EC has assured them that in cases of any voter deletions, a field inquiry will be conducted by the Booth Level Officer (BLO), accompanied by representatives from various political parties.

The former chief minister of Delhi noted that if any individual applies to delete more than five voters' names, the concerned sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) will carry out a field inquiry.

"The BJP is snatching away the rights of people as an Indian citizen by cutting their votes in Delhi. BJP workers have given applications to cut the names of thousands of voters in many assembly constituencies," the AAP chief alleged.

"When you cut the vote of a legitimate person, you are snatching away the basis of citizenship and the right to live in this country," he added.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva hit back, saying AAP and Kejriwal are in "panic" due to their impending defeat.

"Kejriwal knows that he is losing the battle and is looking for excuses to cover up his defeat. The panic of Arvind Kejriwal and AAP clearly shows that these illegal votes were the political strength of their party," Sachdeva said.

"No matter how much noise Arvind Kejriwal and AAP make, the BJP will continue to run a campaign against the votes registered using dead people, illegal infiltrators and fake addresses," he added.

Kejriwal claimed they have submitted 3,000 pages of evidence "showing how the BJP is conspiring to delete voters' names on a mass scale".

"Our demand was that this vote deletion should be stopped as the Election Commission has just done summary revision and FIRs should be filed against those who have applied for these vote deletion," he said.

"A BJP official in Shahdara constituency secretly gave a list of 11,008 voters to the Election Commission to get them deleted and the commission secretly started working on it," Kejriwal alleged.

The AAP delegation included Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, senior party leader Jasmine Shah, Pankaj Gupta, and Reena Gupta.

Calling the meeting successful, the AAP supremo expressed gratitude to the EC for their prompt action.

"If all the assurances given by the Election Commission are fulfilled, I think the people of Delhi need not worry about vote deletion," he added.

The Aam Aadmi Party has been vociferously levelling allegations on voter deletion to target the BJP in the Delhi Assembly elections, slated for February next year. AAP is aiming for a third consecutive term after winning 62 out of 70 seats in the last assembly elections.

Before the meeting with the EC on Wednesday, senior AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia targeted the BJP on the issue.

Addressing a press conference here with Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, Sisodia claimed, "When the BJP is unable to stop Arvind Kejriwal and defeat him in elections, it is trying to win by other means." He alleged that BJP members and supporters submitted mass applications to delete the names of over 22,000 voters from the electoral rolls. PTI MHS RT