AAP claims EC's inquiry into alleged deletion of names from voters list 'farcical', election officer dismisses allegations as baseless

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday alleged that the Election Commission’s inquiry into the alleged deletion of names from the voters’ list was “farcical”. AAP’s national spokesperson Raghav Chadha reiterated the party’s charge that more than 10 lakh names have been deleted “illegally” from electoral rolls. He said the party is exploring possible remedies, including the legal option. Naveen, district election officer (south), who conducted the exercise, dismissed the allegations as “baseless”. The AAP had earlier alleged that names of voters were deleted by lower-level officers in collusion with the BJP. An AAP delegation led by party supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had recently met with chief election commissioner OP Rawat in this regard. The EC had ordered a door-to-door survey in Harikesh Nagar and Lal Kuan of Tughlaqabad Assembly segment. Eleven teams carried out the exercise from 16 to 18 November, Chadha said. [caption id=“attachment_5236081” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “The Election Commission’s investigation was a joke, a farcical exercise as it was based on an inaccurate list of deleted voters,” he alleged. He claimed the list used for verification was different from that uploaded by the EC on its website. “Any investigation that is based on an incorrect list can only produce false results. Why is the Election Commission not providing a comprehensive, valid and accurate list?” he asked. The Election Commission has failed to give political parties an accurate, authentic and comprehensive list of voters whose names have been deleted after the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections, he alleged. Deletion of names form the voters’ list seems to be a “scam of the highest magnitude” and a “big electoral fraud” on the people of Delhi, he charged. “I request all voters, especially non-BJP voters, to check their names in electoral rolls to ensure that they can exercise their constitutional right to vote,” Chadha said. Naveen said the allegations were not based on facts. “The district election officer conducted the verification exercise in a transparent manner involving all parties, including the AAP, at each step and shared the deletions in voters list since February 2015 in these areas with them,” he said.