AAP blames BJP for ‘deletion’ of 30L names from electoral list

NEWDELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the “deletion” of the names of about 30 lakh “anti-bjp voters” from the electoral rolls in Delhi.

Earlier the party had alleged that 10 lakh names were removed from the electoral rolls, a charge that was denied by the Election Commission of India and had invited sharp criticism from BJP.

“Upon analysing the deleted voters’ list, we found that names of people from three communities – Baniya (traders), Muslim and Purvanchalis -- dominated the list of 30 lakh deleted voters of Delhi,” AAP spokesperson Atishi told reporters, saying that BJP was scared of losing its seven Lok Sabha seats in 2019.

BJP has denied the charges. “AAP should declare this list of 30 lakh people. AAP should present these people so that it can be found why their names were deleted. They are only trying to gain political mileage,” said Neelkant Bakshi, head media relation, Delhi BJP.

AAP leaders, including party convener Arvind Kejriwal, have been crying foul over what they term “illegal” removal of names of genuine voters from the rolls in the national Capital.

The office of election commission denied the charges, saying a fresh list of deleted voters’ names would be made available to all political parties. “There is a process that we follow in striking off the names from the rolls. We also conducted an inspection in Tughlaqabad after the complaint. There is no reason to remove voters from a particular community or region,” said an election commission official, who did not want to be named.

Atishi said, “After the introduction of GST and demonetisation, we have seen that the trading communities are upset with the BJP.”