New Delhi, Dec 29 (PTI) AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused the BJP of trying to manipulate voter list in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, Kejriwal claimed the BJP was trying to win elections through “unfair means” after failing to present strong candidates or issues.
“BJP has already lost the elections. They don’t have a chief ministerial face or even proper candidates. They only aim to win through manipulation, but we won’t let them succeed,” he said.
The former Delhi chief minister alleged that the BJP had filed 11,000 voter deletion applications in one constituency alone, but the move was halted at the Chief Election Commissioner’s intervention.
“We exposed this and thankfully it was stopped,” he said.
Kejriwal said that a large-scale operation began on December 15, with 5,000 voter deletion applications and 7,500 addition requests filed so far in his New Delhi Assembly constituency.
He claimed that this could alter 12 per cent of the constituency’s votes.
The total number of voters in the constituency, he said, is 106,873, as per the voter list published on October 29 after the summary revision, which was conducted between August 20 and October 20.
“Operation Lotus has now reached my constituency. They are attempting to manipulate the electoral rolls to change the election outcome,” Kejriwal alleged.
“This kind of manipulation undermines democracy. We appeal to the Election Commission to continue its strict monitoring to prevent such malpractice,” he said.
The AAP national convenor also wrote a letter to New Delhi District Election Officer (DEO) against the alleged unusual spike in voter addition and deletion applications in the constituency.
“We have written to the DEO requesting that these applications be personally verified by them and SDMs in our presence. Without this, no deletions should be approved,” an official statement said.
The BJP is yet to respond to Kejriwal’s allegations. PTI MHS AS AS
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