AAP alleges 'vote theft' in Delhi polls, claims EC trying to cover up

AAP Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj said the party flagged "vote-chori" in New Delhi constituency contested by Kejriwal, Parvesh Verma, and Sandeep Dikshit in February polls

The AAP on Saturday reiterated its allegations of "vote theft" in the Delhi assembly elections and claimed that the Election Commission was covering up irregularities and withholding information on voter deletions.

This comes two days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those behind "vote theft" and claimed that the names of party voters were being systematically deleted from the electoral rolls in Karnataka.

The Election Commission (EC) dismissed the former Congress chief's allegations as "incorrect and baseless", stressing that no deletion of votes can take place without following due process.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, AAP's Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj said the party had flagged "vote-chori" in the high-profile New Delhi constituency, which saw a contest between AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, BJP's Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma and Congress' Sandeep Dikshit in the February polls.

"We even submitted letters to the Election Commission demanding an investigation into the fake cases of voter deletion but the RTI reply said that the information sought had no relation to public activity or interest and was exempted.

"This shows that the role of the chief election commissioner is suspicious. The whole commission is trying to cover up the vote theft," Bharadwaj charged.

On Friday, the AAP claimed that multiple letters by former Delhi chief ministers Kejriwal and Atishi to the EC, as well as RTI queries, went unanswered.

Rejecting the charges, the EC said in a post on X that a detailed reply was given.

"With reference to the PC held by Saurabh Bhardwaj today, it is stated that the ECI sent a detailed reply of 76 pages consisting of seven annexures, including reports of CEO/DEO, on 13.01.2025 to Ms Atishi, the then CM of Delhi," the poll body said.

It further said that Atishi wrote two letters in January -- one on January 5 and another on January 9 -- over additions and deletions in the electoral rolls of 40 segments of the New Delhi constituency.