House resolution asks poll panel to verify voter list
NEW DELHI : The Delhi Assembly passed a resolution on Tuesday asking the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Delhi to conduct a doorto-door survey to verify names of lakhs of voters, which as per the resolution, were deleted from electoral rolls of the national Capital since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in February 2015.
The resolution also asked the Delhi government to initiate a probe into the names of genuine voters that were allegedly struck off from the electoral rolls, fix the responsibility of the errant officials and submit a report before the House within three months. It alleged that the names of the voters are being deleted deliberately to favour the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP, however, rejected the allegations and accused the AAP of misleading the Assembly.
“The officers of CEO, GNCT of Delhi have suo-moto deleted (names of) thousands of voters in each assembly constituency of Delhi without following the due process of law,” read the resolution proposed by Greater Kailash MLA, Saurabh Bharadwaj. It was passed with a voice vote in the 70-member house in which 66 are AAP members.
“The names have been deleted to favour a political party which has government at the centre,” it read.
The total registered voters in Delhi for 2015 assembly polls were 1.33 crore.
Vijay Dev, former chief electoral officer of Delhi who has now been appointed the state chief secretary, could not be reached for a comment despite repeated phone calls and messages. Dev presided over the 2015 assembly elections as CEO. Dev’s successor, Ranbir Singh’s appointment was announced on Tuesday.
Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta accused AAP lawmakers of misleading the House by manipulat-
ing numbers. Gupta, BJP MLA from Rohini, presented before the house what he called latest figures of the Election Commission of India for the past four years to counter Bharadwaj’s claims. He said 3.05 lakh new names were added to the voter’s list since AAP came to power in Delhi.
“The software used by the election commission doesn’t let any duplicity and, instead, adds new voters systematically. So there is no chance of names getting deleted,” said Gupta.
Earlier in his speech, environment minister, Imran Hussain, who is also the election minister, alleged that more than 10 lakh names have been illegally struck off the voter’s list by the poll body since 2015.
The resolution urged Delhi’s CEO to put the comprehensive list of names of voters deleted after February, 2015 on its website. A physical copy and a digital copy of all such deleted voters should be provided to all recognised political parties of Delhi, said the resolution.