Delhi polls: AAP exerting pressure, says district election officer; party rejects claims

This development comes after the Election Commission released its revised voter list for Delhi, prompting political sparring. The AAP alleged “large-scale voter deletion fraud” is taking place in the New Delhi constituency. The Delhi BJP, on the other hand, claimed AAP failed to “register fake voters” this time.

On Monday, Chief Minister Atishi wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and sought another round of verification of the voter deletions in New Delhi. In her letter, the CM said as per the rules, when deletion requests are more than 2%, then the ERO (election registration officer) has to personally verify each deletion request. “These rules have to be followed in this case as more than 2% votes are sought to be deleted in New Delhi. However, it is not being followed,” the letter read.

The DEO, meanwhile, in a January 4 letter to Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Alice Vaz wrote about multiple visits by AAP leaders — including party MPs Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh — to his office on December 21, 28 and 29, and January 3.

“There have been attempts on their part to exert pressure on me by asking for personal details of objectors and other such information that falls outside the purview of routine operations,” he wrote.

He also flagged summons from CM Atishi. “The CM… has been calling me for meetings without a specified agenda… in the past, discussions regarding electoral rolls were held without prior notice,” he wrote.

He also asked the Delhi CEO if he was allowed to attend meetings called by the ruling government “without a prior agenda”.

Sunny K Singh, the District Magistrate also raised similar concerns in a letter to the Officer On Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister, dated January 4, and requested that the meeting agenda be shared in advance.

Pointing out that issues regarding the electoral roll were discussed in the meeting, he wrote, “At 1.01 pm, a WhatsApp message from your office directed me to attend a meeting called by the CM at 2 pm. The agenda of the meeting has not been conveyed, making it difficult for me to come prepared.”

Additional District Magistrate Nishant Bodh wrote to the area DCP, seeking police intervention to maintain order at the DEO’s office. “Recently, several incidents of ruckus and intimidation have taken place, creating an atmosphere of tension and disrupting the smooth functioning of the DEO’s duties,” the letter stated.

The AAP, meanwhile, said it was an attempt to exert pressure. “Our leaders, CM Atishi, Raghav Chadha, and Sanjay Singh, have highlighted that the so-called petitioners (who submitted applications for voter deletion) have disowned any link to these applications. When will the Election Commission take note of this? Now, when the issue has been raised, they are trying to exert pressure by sending a backdated letter. This casts serious doubt on the Commission’s impartiality,” it said in a statement.