Voter roll politics heats up in capital

Our workers are calling and visiting houses of people whose names have been deleted and we will get their names re-added to electoral rolls. ARVIND KEJRIWAL, Delhi CM

NEW DELHI : Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said his party’s workers were warning voters about the alleged deletion of their names from electoral rolls.

“Our workers are calling and visiting houses of people whose names have been deleted from the electoral roll and we will get their names re-added. BJP is behind the mischief of deletion of voters’ names,” Kejriwal said at a public function in southwest Delhi’s Rajokri .

The AAP maintains the names of 30 lakh voters have been deleted, a claim the poll office denies.

Delhi Congress leaders accused AAP workers of making “misleading” calls to voters, telling them their names had been deleted, and then forcing them to promise to vote for their party in return for getting their names added.a Congress delegation led by state unit president Sheila Dikshit met the chief electoral officer (CEO) on Monday.

The CEO office had on Friday filed a police complaint, requesting action against those who are calling people and telling them their names had been removed.

Delhi Congress’s working president Haroon Yusuf said several former Congress minis- ters had received calls. He said the caller assured the names will be “re-added by (Arvind) Kejriwal ji”.“this is a clear cut political move before the parliamentary elections to sway voters and create panic,” Yusuf said.

“Getting one’s name deleted from the electoral list is not an easy feat. Three notices are released by the election commission before the name is finally deleted. But such calls, right before the election, does the work of scaring voters,” said Delhi Congress spokesperson Ramakant Goswami.

AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha, who had flagged the alleged deletion of 30 lakh names three months ago, said their party would reach out to everyone whose names had been wrongfully removed.

BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said: “AAP fears that they are going to lose all the seats and hence they are doing such things to mislead the people.”