‘Not true, cast my vote every year,’ Chandra rejects Kejriwal’s claims on voters list name deletion

New Delhi:  A day after AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal raised an alarm over deletion of voters from the electoral roll ahead of Delhi Assembly elections, his claims seems to have backfired with one of the woman voters outrightly rejecting his assertions.

Chandra, a woman voter in Delhi’s Kidwai Nagar constituency said on record that she has been casting her ballot every year and her name was mistakenly taken by Arvind Kejriwal.

Speaking exclusively to IANS, she said, “I have never had my vote cut. I always cast my vote. I don’t know why they mistakenly said that my name was removed from the list. I already have my voter ID card, there is no need to make a new one. It could have been a misunderstanding on Kejriwal’s part otherwise, I have been casting my vote every time.”

Her husband Raghu also countered Kejriwal’s claims on her wife’s name being struck off the electoral rolls, ahead of elections and said, “It is possible that he (Arvind Kejriwal) mistakenly mentioned someone else’s name and referred to us. Our vote has not been cancelled.”

It was during the launch of Mahila Samman Yojana that former Delhi CM claimed that Chandra’s name was removed from the electoral rolls, apparently as part of BJP’s plot and his party would get her name reinstated in the list.

The AAP supremo visited the constituency on Monday, to kickstart the process of registration for ‘Mahila Samman Yojana’, under which he has pledged Rs 2,100 monthly financial assistance for women residents of the city, if party returns to power.

While naming Chandra as the ‘victim’ of voters list name deletion drive, carried out by BJP, he said that his partymen will ensure that they don’t get deprived of their basic rights to vote.

He also shared a video of the registration drive and said that this ‘conspiracy’ by BJP will impair chances of city’s women residents from getting Rs 2,100, as promised under Mahila Samman Yojana.

Taking to X, he wrote, “When we went to start the registration for ‘Mahila Samman Yojana’, a sister told me that someone had got her vote cancelled. We will get her vote made again. But I want to tell all my mothers and sisters of Delhi that all of you should check your vote. It is necessary to have your name in the voter list to get Rs 2100 every month.”

As the city prepares for election, the AAP and BJP have raised the stakes for a high-pitched electoral battle. BJP has been trying to corner the AAP dispensation over the Rohingya issue, fraudulent liquor policy and others while the latter has accused it of orchestrating a widespread voter deletion drive to target its voter base.

AAP has alleged that BJP has been pushing for removal of many voters, mostly its supporters, from the electoral list and submitting applications regarding the same to the Election Commission.

“In Shahdara area, BJP has sought removal of over 11,000 voters. After cross-checking, we found that 500 of these voters still live in that locality,” Kejriwal said in a recent public address.

–IANS