New Delhi: Alleging Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of getting the voters’ names deleted from electoral rolls in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that it was a step taken by the saffron party in order to avoid defeat in the Lok Sabha Election 2019. Also Read - Delhi Has Crossed Peak of Second Coronavirus Wave: Arvind Kejriwal

The EC had conducted a door-to-door survey in Lal Kuan and Harikesh Nagar areas of the Tughlaqabad Assembly segment to verify AAP’s claims that “over one lakh votes were deleted in South Delhi since the last assembly elections in 2015”. “BJP is losing. This seems to be the last resort of BJP. They have got lakhs of names deleted from voter lists. Hope EC wud take immediate action (sic),” Kejriwal said in a tweet. Also Read - No Direction to CBDT to Issue Notice to Sharad Pawar on Poll Affidavits: Election Commission

An AAP delegation had met the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) earlier this month, alleging that the names of over 10 lakh voters, mostly supporting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress, were deleted in Delhi since the 2015 Assembly elections. However, AAP’s charges were declared as baseless by South East Delhi’s District Election Officer. He added that the verification exercise on the complaint made by AAP was conducted in a transparent manner. Also Read - Farm Bills 2020: Haryana Home Minister Hits Out at Kejriwal, Asks Him What Provisions of Bills Benefit Corporates

The officer even denied AAP’s charges that a list of deleted votes wasn’t provided to the political parties in Delhi.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP’s) Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari refuted the allegations saying making such charges meant attacking the Election Commission in itself. Tiwari said that it reflected ‘hopelessness’ on AAP’s part that it was accusing BJP of deleting as many as 15 lakh voters’ names.

“Terming the EC’s verification exercise farcical and hogwash proves the AAP’s anarchic nature. The commission should ensure action against them,” Tiwari said.

Kejriwal’s attack on the BJP came a day after his party leader Raghav Chadha termed the EC’s inquiry into the alleged deletion of names from the voters’ list in Tughlaqabad as false.