New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) The ECI on Friday strongly rebutted Delhi Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) President Saurabh Bhardwaj’s allegation of illegal deletion of voters’ names in the city, saying that it had replied to similar allegations by his party colleague Atishi in January.
“With reference to the press conference held by Saurabh Bharadwaj today, it is stated that ECI had sent a detailed reply of 76 pages consisting of 7 annexures, including reports of the CEO/DEO on 13.01.2025 to Atishi, the then CM of Delhi,” said a statement issued by the poll panel.
The Election Commission of India (ECI), in its statement on X, attached the documents it had earlier provided to Atishi to dismiss allegations of an alarming surge in addition and deletion applications in the Voters List of New Delhi Assembly Constituency – a seat from where former CM and AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal lost the Assembly election in February.
Earlier, Bharadwaj said at a press conference on Friday that the concerns related to voter list manipulation raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi were highlighted by Kejriwal and Atishi eight months back.
Bharadwaj’s attack on the ECI was also criticised by the Delhi BJP, which called it baseless.
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said, “I challenge both Saurabh Bharadwaj and Arvind Kejriwal today: if you have the courage and if your accusations carry weight, then file a formal complaint with the Election Commission along with an affidavit. If you believed they were your voters, you should have ensured their names were on the electoral rolls.”
The Delhi BJP President said that for the past 26 years, Delhi has been under the rule of Arvind Kejriwal and Congress, and everyone knows how they sheltered infiltrators in the city.
He alleged that the Kejriwal government facilitated the entry of infiltrators into the capital using AC train tickets from West Bengal, and just before elections, when Delhi Police launched a campaign, substantial evidence was found on a large scale.
He clarified that people from all parts of India — whether Punjab, Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, or Haryana — have every right to live in Delhi, but anyone living here illegally or in hiding, and if the Election Commission launches an action against them, the BJP will always support such moves.
Sachdeva said that ever since the Election Commission announced the SIR. (Special Intensive Revision) in Delhi, along with the rest of the country, Bharadwaj and AAP have developed a phobia.
AAP leaders fear that the fake voters nurtured and converted into a core vote bank by previous governments in Delhi will now be exposed. The BJP had forcefully raised the issue of bogus voters during the elections, and the outcome of that effort is visible to all, said the BJP leader.
–IANS
rch/uk
