Alleged voter deletion scam in Delhi: AAP writes to EROs

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has raised a strong objection to what it claims is a systematic effort by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to unlawfully delete voters’ names from the electoral rolls in Delhi. In an official letter addressed to the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) of all 70 assembly constituencies, AAP has accused the BJP of submitting bulk applications for voter deletions, a move the party says undermines the integrity of the electoral process.

Pankaj Gupta, the National Secretary of AAP, expressed grave concerns over the procedure followed in processing these applications. According to Gupta, the BJP has submitted mass deletion requests without following mandatory transparency guidelines. He emphasised that the Election Commission’s Manual on Electoral Rolls, issued in March 2023, prohibits bulk applications from any individual or organisation for voter deletions. Gupta wrote, “We demand that all such applications be rejected ab-initio and that no further deletions be made to the electoral rolls without a proper ground verification exercise.”

The complaint specifically highlighted Shahdara Assembly constituency (AC-62), where over 11,000 voter names have allegedly been targeted for deletion in the last six weeks. AAP claims that the BJP submitted applications stating that these voters had either moved, died, or were duplicates. However, the party pointed out that these lists were processed without being uploaded to the Election Commission’s website, a requirement under the commission’s guidelines. “The 11,000 applications submitted by BJP are being processed surreptitiously without being displayed on the website,” the letter read, adding that AAP would take legal action against officials involved in such malpractice.

The letter further questioned whether similar bulk deletion applications had been submitted in other constituencies without being reflected on the Election Commission’s website. AAP demanded that the details of such applications be disclosed immediately to ensure transparency in

the process.

“The Election Commission recently conducted the large-scale Summary Revision exercise from August 20 to October 18, 2024, and subsequently published the electoral rolls on October 29, 2024. Once such an exercise has been undertaken across all Assembly constituencies in NCT of Delhi, there remains no room for subsequent mass voter-deletion. Such a mega deletion exercise is against the spirit of free and fair elections,” Gupta argued, warning that such actions would undermine the Summary Revision process itself.

The complaint also pointed out that the Election Commission’s guidelines on voter deletions forbid the submission of multiple forms for voter deletion by an individual or an organisation. According to these guidelines, bulk applications are to be rejected, and only individual applications should be accepted. “Para 11.3.2 of the Manual on Electoral Roll clearly states that ‘bulk application’ means applications submitted by one person on behalf of other persons not belonging to the same family,” the letter stated.

In a bid to halt further deletions, AAP has urged the Election Commission to cease any additional voter deletions across Delhi. “In case the Election Commission deems it necessary to delete the name of any voter, we demand that the same should be done through a ground verification exercise by the concerned BLO in the presence of our BLA-2 so that genuine voters aren’t wrongfully removed from the voter list,” the letter concluded.

Earlier, AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal had publicly accused the BJP of orchestrating a “vote deletion scam” aimed at targeting AAP supporters. Kejriwal presented evidence showing that out of the 11,018 votes targeted for deletion in Shahdara Assembly, 75 per cent of the voters were alive and still residing at their registered addresses.

With mounting concerns over the integrity of the electoral process in Delhi, AAP has warned the Election Commission of legal action against any officials who facilitate wrongful deletions. “We put you to notice that even a single wrongful deletion in your assembly constituency will attract severe penal provisions under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023 and Representation of People Act 1950,” Gupta cautioned

in his letter.