Kejriwal & BJP in War of Words over Deletion of Voters’ Names

BJP has charged Kejriwal with lying that names of 24 lakh voters had been deleted in past four years in Delhi.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Education Minister Manish Sisodia during an interaction with parents seeking admission in private schools on 9 January 

(Photo: PTI)

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, engaged in a war of words on Twitter on Saturday, 9 February, accusing each other of lying about the deletion of voters' names from the electoral roll in the national capital.

The blame game erupted with Gupta accusing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader of lying that names of 24 lakh voters had been deleted in Delhi in the past four years. He tweeted:

Kejriwal hit back, saying, "Your Election Commission has given us list of 24 lakh votes deleted in four years. The dirty game of BJP has been exposed early that's why you are so flustered. Will EC resign if I give you the list of those whose names have been deleted fraudulently?"

The Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, on Saturday, cautioned people against “misleading calls” claiming deletion of their names from electoral rolls, a day after a BJP delegation met the Chief Election Commissioner and alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been making such phone calls.

Terming the poll panel statement as a slap in the face of Kejriwal, Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari said the Election Commission had informed all the parties, including Arvind Kejriwal's AAP, that by 18 January 2019 a total number of 9,88,925 voters have increased, but Kejriwal was not ready to accept it.

The poll panel statement came a day after a BJP delegation met the Chief Election Commissioner and alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been making such phone calls.

The statement from the poll panel drew sharp reaction from AAP national convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who said the Election Commission “must not be allowed to become an agent of a political party”.

After the poll panel came out with the final voter list in January, the AAP has launched sustained attacks on the BJP alleging its hand behind the "deletion" of names of 30 lakh voters, particularly of Purvanchali, Muslims and Bania communities, since the assembly election in Delhi in 2015.

AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha asserted that Kejriwal is fighting with the Election Commission and he will get every voter's name added to the electoral rolls that has been illegally deleted at the behest of the BJP.

BJP Asks Poll Panel to Issue Clarification

A BJP delegation led by Union minister Vijay Goel met the Chief Election Commissioner on Friday, 8 February, and requested him to issue a clarification on "bogus claims" by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that names of 30 lakh voters in Delhi were deleted from electoral roll. Goel said, "Kejriwal government is making bogus phone calls to voters on the pretext that their names have been deleted from the voter list. The Election Commission should issue a press release to expose the lies spread by Kejriwal.”

(With inputs from PTI.)