Kejriwal Accuses BJP of Manipulating Voter List Ahead of Delhi Assembly Elections
New Delhi: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to manipulate the voter list in a bid to influence the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. Speaking at a press conference alongside Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, Kejriwal alleged that the BJP was resorting to “unfair means” to secure victory after struggling to present strong candidates or a compelling electoral agenda.
Kejriwal claimed the BJP had already conceded defeat in the elections, pointing out the absence of a clear chief ministerial face and credible candidates. “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,” Kejriwal asserted.
The former Delhi chief minister also highlighted a specific instance of alleged manipulation in one of the constituencies, where the BJP reportedly filed 11,000 voter deletion applications. However, Kejriwal noted that the move was halted after intervention from the Chief Election Commissioner. “We exposed this, and thankfully, it was stopped,” he said.
Kejriwal revealed that a large-scale operation targeting voter rolls had begun on December 15, with 5,000 voter deletion applications and 7,500 addition requests filed in his own assembly constituency of New Delhi. He claimed that these actions could potentially alter up to 12 percent of the constituency’s votes, which is significant considering the total number of voters in the constituency is 106,873, according to the voter list published on October 29 following the summary revision.
“This kind of manipulation undermines democracy. We appeal to the Election Commission to continue its strict monitoring to prevent such malpractice,” Kejriwal said, referring to the alleged “Operation Lotus” that he claimed had reached his constituency.
As of now, the BJP has not issued a formal response to the accusations.
