AAP says BJP, election body deleted 30L voters

NEWDELHI: THE Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was involved in deletion of 30 lakh voters from Delhi’s electoral rolls.

AAP’S national spokesperson and the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from south Delhi Raghav Chadha on Wednesday presented an alleged constituency-wise list containing names of voters that he claimed were deleted. “Around 30 lakh votes were deleted by the BJP in collusion with some officers of the Election Commission. The BJP wanted to avenge its defeat in the 2015 elections,” he said.

The BJP, however, was quick to deny the allegations and called it a “cock and bull story”.

Countering AAP’S claims, BJP MLA from Rohini and leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said the AAP led by Arvind Kejriwal is raking up a ‘false issue and creating “unnecessary panic” among Delhiites. “The AAP is misleading people on the issue. According to the Election Commission, only 3.05 lakh names have been deleted from 2015 to 2018,” Gupta said.

AAP leader Chadha, however, criticised the BJP for “falsely accusing” CM Arvind Kejriwal of raising the issue. “Just because BJP has been exposed and humiliated for illegally and unconstitutionally depriving people of their right to vote, they are now trying to sling mud at the one person (Kejriwal) who is actually rectifying their crimes,” Chadha said.

Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, Ranbir Singh was not available for a comment. Special CEO, Rajesh Kumar did not respond to calls and messages.