The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has sent a strongly worded letter to Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) of all 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi, highlighting a concerning pattern of bulk voter deletion applications submitted by the BJP across Delhi. The party has expressed alarm over the processing of these applications by EROs without uploading them on website, which is mandatory as per the Election Commission’s guidelines.
In the letter, AAP National Secretary Pankaj Gupta has demanded immediate action to halt any further voter deletions across Delhi, citing procedural violations and the potential undermining of the recent Summary Revision exercise. The party referred to Election Commission’s Manual on Electoral Roll issued in March 2023 that bars any individual or organisation from submitting bulk applications for deletion of voters. Citing the same, the party has demanded for all such applications to be rejected ab-initio. The party has also warned of legal action against officials who fail to uphold the integrity of the electoral process.
Using Shahdara Assembly constituency (AC-62) as a case in point, AAP has highlighted how over 11,000 voter names have been targeted for deletion in the past six weeks under the guise of shifted residences, duplications, or deaths. “It has come to our knowledge that in Shahdara assembly constituency (AC no. 62), BJP has submitted applications for deletion of over 11,000 existing voters in the last six weeks on the premise that the voters have shifted/deceased or there is duplication. Further, the concerned ERO has issued orders for taking action on BJP’s application for mass deletion for voters. However, these lists submitted by the BJP were being processed without uploading them on the website, which is a mandatory requirement. This means that the 11,000 applications submitted by BJP are being processed surreptitiously without being displayed on the website. AAP is taking appropriate legal action against the errant officials of the Election Commission and the officials of the BJP in Shahdara,” the letter says.
Through the letter the AAP has sought to know if any such applications have been received from BJP or any other quarters for deletion of voters in any assembly constituency, which are not reflected on the Election Commission website and are either lying pending or being processed. “If yes, the details of the same may kindly be provided to us immediately,” the letter says.
Questioning the hidden motives behind the alteration of rolls, the letter reads, “The Election Commission recently conducted the large-scale Summary Revision exercise from 20th August to 18th October 2024, and subsequently published the electoral rolls on the 29th October 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 and would undermine the Summary Revision process of the Election Commission itself.”
“Further, we have learned that some people have submitted multiple forms for deletion of voters in violation of existing rules and orders of the Election Commission. Para 11.3.2 of Manual on Electoral Roll, published by the Election Commission in March 2023 states that an officer should only accept individual applications and no bulk applications shall be accepted from an individual or an organisation. It clarifies that ‘bulk application’ means applications submitted by one person on behalf of other persons not belonging to the same family. The said para also states that BLAs of political parties cannot submit more than 10 forms at a time, or 30 forms overall during the period of summary revision. By this rule, all such applications become void and must be rejected ab-initio,” the letter further reads.
The AAP has also demanded that no further deletion of voters may be carried out in any assembly constituency to protect the integrity of the electoral process in NCT of 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.”
Concluding, the letter also warns officials of possible legal action, saying, “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 against any and every official involved.”
Earlier, on December 6, AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal had exposed how BJP is orchestrating a massive “vote deletion scam” aimed at undermining democracy in Delhi. Backed by evidence, the AAP Convenor had asserted that the BJP is systematically targeting AAP supporters by unlawfully deleting their names from the voters’ list. Highlighting shocking cases in Shahdara Assembly, he revealed that BJP applied to cut 11,018 votes, with an investigation revealing that 75% of these voters were alive and still residing at their registered addresses.
