EC warns against 'misleading calls' on name deletion; CM hits back
Kejriwal launches attack, asks EC not to be ‘agent’ of any political party
NEW DELHI: Election Commission urges people through an advisory, not to get mislead by phone calls from unknown numbers talking about voter name deletion. In response Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched an attack on EC and urged it not to become "agent" of any political party.
As per the advisory, "It has been brought to the notice of Chief Electoral Office, Delhi that a large number of calls have been received from unknown persons by many citizens of Delhi telling them that their names have already been deleted in the electoral roll. Citizens are hereby advised to beware of such misleading calls coming from unknown persons/entities/sources."
In response, Delhi Chief Minister slammed the EC through a number of tweets. "EC gave AAP list of 24 lakh names deleted in Delhi. 1. Del govt enquiries in some deletions found them wrong? Why is EC protecting those officers? 2. Why EC not allowing Del govt to do enquiries in all deletions? EC itself didn't conduct enquiries AAP won't allow Telangana it in Delhi," the CM tweeted.
He further tweeted, "Incumbents come n go. EC is too precious an institution for Indian democracy. EC's integrity n credibility ought to be protected. EC must not be allowed to become an agent of a political party."
AAP has been alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was involved in the deletion of voter names from state electoral rolls. Earlier last month, AAP's national spokesperson and the party's Lok Sabha candidate from south Delhi Raghav Chadha presented a constituency-wise list with names of voters that he claimed were deleted.
Talking about the advisory, Chadha said, "Governments and officials will come and go but we must not allow the credibility and integrity of an important institution like the EC to be destroyed." He added, "Urge EC officials acting like BJP spokespersons and agents to officially join BJP and not to misuse EC to snatch people's constitutional rights."
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP alleged that the Chief Minister's comments on the matter are politically motivated. "All the allegations by the Delhi CM on the Election Commission are politically motivated," said Delhi's LOP Vijender Gupta.
