BJP, AAP spar over Delhi’s electoral roll

BJP alleges irregularities in AAP leaders' voter registrations, demanding action from ECI. AAP counters, claiming BJP targets Purvanchalis' voting rights.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday alleged that there are irregularities in the voter registration status of several Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and their family members, and demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Delhi Police take appropriate action.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva. (ANI)

The BJP also unveiled a new poster to target the AAP ahead of the upcoming Delhi assembly polls, titled “Farzi Voters Se Ishq Hai” (love of counterfeit voters) — and claimed that the AAP is associated with “fake voters”.

The AAP dismissed the allegations, repeating the claim that the BJP is attempting to delete the names of Purvanchalis — a popular phrase for people from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh — from the electoral roll in Delhi.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was registered in the voter list of the Sultanpur municipality IN UP??? in 2018, but at that time, he also registered on the list of the Hari Nagar assembly in Delhi.

“When Singh was nominated for the Rajya Sabha in 2018, his affidavit stated that his voter registration was in the Hari Nagar assembly constituency, while his and his wife’s names were simultaneously on Sultanpur municipal council’s voter list. When we exposed the bogus voter registration of his wife Anita Singh during a press conference, he hastily filed for vote transfer on December 30,” Sachdeva said.

He further accused Singh of having voter registrations in both New Delhi and Vikaspuri constituencies in 2024, calling this a “shameful case of electoral fraud”.

The Delhi BJP chief also alleged that there is an ongoing legal case involving AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal being simultaneously enrolled in the voters’ list of two different constituencies — Sahibabad, Ghaziabad as well as Chandni Chowk.

“The matter is pending,” he said.

He also alleged that Delhi mayor Mahesh Kumar Khichi’s wife is registered with two different names — Mamata and Nidhi — at the same address.

“The address is the same with identical photos for both entries, with different election ID EPIC numbers,” Sachdeva said.

Sachdeva said that holding voter registrations in two or more places is a criminal offense, and called on ECI and Delhi Police to take action under electoral laws. “Kejriwal has spent the past ten years positioning himself as the champion of fraudulent votes,” he said.

In response, AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar claimed that the BJP was attempting to delete the names of Purvanchalis from the voters’ list in Delhi.

“They were caught red handed in Shahdara, where BJP leader Vishal Bharadwaj illegally filed 11,018 applications for deletion of voter names. Similarly, in the New Delhi constituency, 5,500 applications have been submitted for voter deletion and 7,500 for addition of new names. All of these applications have been filed after closure of the summary revision by the Election Commission,” she said.

“BJP hates Purvanchalis, and is intentionally getting their votes deleted... The BJP is crumbling under the weight of its lies, and the people of Delhi are seeing through their façade,” she added.