New Delhi: As Delhi went to the polls for the Assembly elections, the city recorded a voter turnout of 57.89 per cent, with North East Delhi (comprising of Burari, Timarpur, Seemapuri, Rohtas Nagar, Seelampur, Ghonda, Babarpur, Gokalpur, Mustafabad and Karawal Nagar) leading at 63.83 per cent by 7 PM. While constituencies like Mustafabad and Seelampur saw the highest participation, recording 66.8 per cent and 66.4 per cent turnout, respectively; allegations of cash distribution, voter name deletions and bogus voting also surfaced.
‘Denied Right to Vote’
For many in Mustafabad, election day turned into a frustrating ordeal. Kamla, a resident of Kamal Vihar, arrived at the polling booth at the Sardar Patel Senior Secondary Public School with her husband and two sons, only to find their names missing from the voter list. Clutching her voter slip from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, she confronted booth officials, running from one to another.“How is it possible that my daughter-in-law’s name is there, but my entire family has been erased from the list?” she asked, anger evident in her voice. Kamla, who has lived in the same house for 40 years, was bewildered by the abrupt deletion. “This has never happened before. Now I am being sent from one officer to another, and no one has a solution,” she lamented. Party workers at the booth searched the list, but their names were nowhere to be found. She alleged that this has happened without any prior notice or verification by officers, hence, ‘denying the right to vote.’
Sunita Singh and her son, also from Kamal Vihar, faced a similar fate. Having voted in the 2020 Assembly elections, they were confident their names would be there. However, Sunita’s name was missing from the Lok Sabha rolls as well, prompting her to fill out Form 6 for re-registration. I was out of town most of the past 2 years. Maybe it was my neighbours who gave wrong information,” also alleging that, “it is booth level officer ploy with other party workers that gets the name wrong fully deleted by forging signatures.” They further said that the survey doesn’t actually happen door to door. While another resident, though, found it crucial to point out that, it is just the voters who were reluctant to link their voter id with aadhar whose names have been removed.
Meanwhile, in another case, Pawan from Shiv Vihar and Urmila Singh from Kamal Vihar couldn’t vote because their vote was already casted by someone else. As Pawan waited inside the school premise for Booth officers to address his grievance and find a way around, he said “I checked the roll, someone has already signed in his place. He also noticed that his aadhar number digits were wrong.”
However, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) at the station distanced themselves from the allegations. “We do not delete names. Our job is to conduct surveys and report our findings. If a voter isn’t found at their address and neighbors claim they have moved, we mark them accordingly,” a BLO said.
Claims of Bogus Voting and Cash Distribution
In Seelampur, BJP workers protested against what they claimed was large-scale fraudulent voting. Anil Gaur, BJP’s candidate from the constituency, alleged that AAP had brought in fake voters. “Around 300-400 fake voters have been brought from Loni, Uttar Pradesh. Many of them appear to be Bangladeshis. We stopped at least 25 of them from voting. Kejriwal is orchestrating bogus voting,” he claimed.
In New Delhi constituency, AAP MP Sanjay Singh accused BJP workers of distributing money at a booth near Rashtrapati Bhavan. Singh even shared a video on X showing a man fleeing in a car when confronted. Police later confirmed they were investigating the claim.
Further tensions arose when AAP workers were detained after allegations that an “extra table” had been set up near a polling booth in Tughlak Lane. In South Avenue, police detained an AAP worker, Harish, after complaints surfaced about freebie distribution and voter transportation.