EC denies quoting 10 lakh deleted voters in Delhi, Kejriwal 'shocked'

The Election Commission on Friday called Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's claim about CEC confirming deletion of 10 lakh voters "factually incorrect" and said that the poll panel chief never commented on the number of voters removed from the electoral rolls.

"The ECI did not confirm that more than 10 lakh voters have been deleted. Since AAP delegation insisted, ECI agreed to enquire specifically in Lal Kuan and Tughlakabad electoral rolls," tweeted official spokesperson for the Election Commission of India (ECI) Sheyphali Sharan.

"Updating voters' list is an ongoing process. The next list would be published on January 4, 2019," Sharan tweeted.

The Election Commission's response came hours after Kejriwal met the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O.P. Rawat and said that Rawat has confirmed deletion of 10 lakh voters' names from the rolls from several assemblies.

Reacting to the ECI spokesperson's tweet, Kejriwal said he was shocked by the statement and that the Election Commission should update the list of deleted voters on its website to prove its point.

"Shocking how EC could lie so blatantly. The CEC himself said that 10 lakh votes were deleted and 13 lakh added since the last Delhi assembly elections. Strange why EC should lie.

"Let EC put updated list of all deletions on its website. People would know the number of deletions and could check their names also," he said.

Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) South Delhi Lok Sabha in-charge Raghav Chadha expressed his disbelief and said that he didn't expect this from the ECI.

"None of the persons present in the meeting could possibly deny that CEC confirmed deletion of 10 lakh voters from Delhi's electoral rolls. This figure was quoted by him without any insistence from our side. Didn't expect EC spokesperson to deny a fact confirmed by CEC himself," he said in a tweet.

"If today's meeting with CEC was videographed, it should be put in public domain. Everyone will get to know what's correct. It cannot be denied the CEC himself quoted a figure of 10 lakh deleted votes," he said.

--IANS

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