AAP workers protest outside EC alleging raids on call centres

AAP workers led by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, sat on a protest outside the Election Commission on Friday alleging that raids were being conducted on call centres hired by the party to make people aware that their names had been deleted from the voters' lists.

Sisodia, said barely an hour after he met the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Friday to lodge a complaint against the Delhi police which, he claimed, was acting at the BJP's behest to harass call centre employees, a fourth raid was conducted again.

"Demanding fair elections, we are sitting outside the Election Commission to protest against the raid on the call centre.

"After our meeting with the CEC (on Friday), we were assured that he will look into the matter but within an hour we see that a fourth raid is conducted on the call centre," he said outside the EC.

He said this is the fourth raid on the call centre in four consecutive days.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal also questioned the CEC. "Why is CEC raiding our call centres and asking for our data? What is our crime? Pl tell our crime at least," he said in a tweet.

Kejriwal also urged all party MLAs to join the protest outside the Election Commission.

"Police has raided without any search warrant and is barging into server rooms and interrogating all call centre agents. What is going on? What is the crime?" he tweeted.

"We need an answer. What is our fault that we are being raided," he said in another tweet.

Sisodia was joined by other party members, including Lok Sabha candidates Atishi, Raghav Chadha and senior leader Sanjay Singh.

Atishi, AAP's Lok Sabha candidate, said they are waiting outside Election Commission till CEC meets them.

"It is responsibility of EC to ensure free and fair elections and not let BJP's Delhi police intimidate our call centres," Atishi said.

A BJP team had earlier met Arora and alleged that the AAP was making "misleading" phone calls about the city's electoral rolls.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls scheduled to begin on April 11, the Election Commission had directed the police to take "necessary action" against people making such calls. An FIR was also filed in this matter.

The AAP leaders asserted that they were responsible for hiring the call centre employees to make people aware that names had been deleted from voters' lists and the police should question the leaders instead of the workers.

The AAP alleged that BJP got more than 30 lakh voters' names deleted in Delhi.

When the Aam Aadmi Party started talking about this issue and hired a call centre to inform voters about it, the BJP got rattled and ordered the Delhi police to harass the call centre employees, the party alleged.

During the earlier meeting with Arora, Sisodia urged the EC to direct Delhi police to stop the harassment of the call centre employees.

"The Delhi police is working like goons. We urged the EC to stop the Delhi police from doing it. They (Delhi police) are pressuring and harassing the call centre employees.

"They are not making proxy calls, they have been hired by the Aam Aadmi Party, we have entered into an agreement with them to do it," Sisodia said after meeting at the EC.