Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal Sunday alleged that the BJP was planning to manipulate electoral rolls data by deleting over 5,000 names from the voters list of the New Delhi Assembly constituency, from where the former chief minister is contesting.
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Calling it BJP’s “operation lotus” in action, Kejriwal, while addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters, said: “BJP is trying to win this election by any means. BJP neither has any CM face, nor any candidates. Last time, they tried to remove the names of 11,000 voters from another constituency, from where we won the polls by 5,000 votes. If they would have been successful, we would have lost the election. The staff of the election offices had even started working on the deletion but due to the intervention of the Chief Election Commissioner, this was stopped.”
Sharing some data from his constituency, Kejriwal said, “BJP started this ‘Operation Lotus’ from October 15 and in the last 15 days, applications for deleting nearly 5,000 voters have come. Moreover, applications for the addition of 7,500 names have also been received. This is clear manipulation of almost 12 per cent of votes. What is the need of the elections if such kind of activity is going on? They did this in Haryana and Maharashtra but we will not let them do this in Delhi.”
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matter seeking details of individuals (objectors) who have submitted more than five applications for deleting names since October 29, 2024.
“Specifically, we seek either their EPIC details or copies of Form 7 filed by them. I have enclosed the list of such individuals who have filed more than 5 forms from 29 October to 25 December 2024. Who are these individuals who are so keen to get names of voters deleted at such a large scale? At whose behest are operating? What are their intentions?… To safeguard the integrity of the electoral process, I strongly urge that no further voter deletions be carried out in the constituency unless it is a case of Migration (i.e. Form 8) and a death case…,” he added.
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The BJP, however, rubbished the charges saying that AAP was the one trying to manipulate the voters list by adding names of minorities. “Lakhs of minority voters have been added to the electoral list after the Lok Sabha Polls. Many Hindu voters living in areas that come under South Delhi, like Kalkaji and Tughlakabad, have made complaints that people from the minority communities are being registered as voters,” Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said.
The Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled to take place in February where 70 seats will be up for grabs in a three-cornered fight between the AAP, BJP and Congress.
