NEW DELHI: A verbal duel broke out between the Delhi BJP and the AAP over bogus voters in the electoral rolls for the forthcoming Assembly polls, with the Opposition reminding illegal voters of one-year jail term for impersonation and the ruling party alleging a conspiracy to delete names of its supporters from the voters’ list.
While AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP, along with the Election Commission, of getting names of its voters removed from the electoral rolls, the BJP vowed not to allow even a single Rohingya, Bangladeshi or any bogus voter to cast vote in the Delhi Assembly elections.
Releasing videos shot by BJP’s booth level workers during their visits to homes of alleged bogus voters in Moti Nagar and Trilokpuri constituencies, Delhi BJP chief Virender Sachdeva said, “Kejriwal is shaken as his fraud is being exposed. Bogus Rohingya and Bangladeshi voters are being caught and voters living in Uttar Pradesh who come to vote in Delhi are being exposed.”
“The way Kejriwal has started questioning constitutional bodies shows he has nothing concrete to say about the exercise to remove bogus voters, ” he claimed.
Sachdeva alleged Kejriwal was objecting to removal of names of 6, 584 voters who have either died or shifted out of Moti Nagar constituency.
“What is the reason behind retaining these names?” he asked.
The BJP leader accused Kejriwal of spreading falsehoods and presenting no proof to substantiate his claim of illegal removal of names from the electoral list.
Earlier, Kejriwal alleged a conspiracy involving the Election Commission and the BJP behind large-scale deletion of names of his party’s supporters from electoral rolls, especially in Shahdara constituency.
“There is a threat to democracy. A voter has the right to cast a vote and pick a government of his choice as mandated by B.R. Ambedkar, but the EC is blatantly deleting names of voters based on applications given by the BJP, ” said Kejriwal, adding that names of 11, 000 voters from Shahdara constituency were being removed illegally.
Soon after Kejriwal’s media briefing, the Returning Officer of Shahdara Assembly constituency said in a post on X that the claims of alleged attempts to delete 11, 000 voters’ names from the seat were false.
“Only 494 Form 7 received in Shahdara Assembly constituency since October 29, 2024. Hence, the claim that 11, 018 Form 7 were filed by the BJP in the last one month is factually incorrect, ” said the District Magistrate-cum-Returning Officer of Shahdara district.
Elections to pick a new 70-member Delhi Assembly are scheduled to be held in January-February.