The upcoming election is expected to be a direct contest between the ruling AAP and the BJP, with political parties placing the electoral roll under the magnifying glass. (Representative Image)
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
In a most unusual exercise, the final electoral roll of Delhi—published by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on January 6 ahead of the Assembly election—included an elaborate explanation of the process followed by the election body. This comes after a draft electoral roll published last October.
Of even greater interest in the CEO’s press release was a reference to the rush to submit Form-6, for new voter registration, since December 16, 2024: a whopping 5.1 lakh applications have been received since then. The CEO said this trend of “unprecedented increase” of Form-6 submissions, that too after 20 days of the deadline for accepting claims and objections with regard to the draft roll (November 28, 2024) is “unexpected and needs greater scrutiny”.
The statement contained a detailed account of the process followed by the election body in finalising the electoral roll since the publication of the draft roll, which involved political parties at every step. There are 1.55 crore voters in Delhi as per the final electoral roll. The increase between the draft publication and the final publication is 3,08,942; the total deletion is 1,41,613. So net increase was 1,67,329 voters during this period. The draft roll had 1.53 crore names.
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Never before has the electoral roll in Delhi been subject to such intense scrutiny as in this Assembly election. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar spent over half an hour explaining the process of additions and deletions to the electoral roll before he announced the election schedule for the capital.
In a high-stakes electoral battle, expected to be a direct contest between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party ((BJP), political parties have placed the electoral roll under the magnifying glass. Additions and deletions to the voter list are being viewed critically, and in many cases, with suspicion.
The AAP has made representations to the Election Commission claiming large-scale additions and deletions in the voter list in Delhi that have the capacity to affect results in many constituencies. Among the seats cited by the AAP is former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s constituency, New Delhi. Here the party has claimed the total number of votes sought to be added is 13,113, which is 12.26 per cent of the total votes; the total number of votes sought to be deleted is 5,468, which is 5.1 per cent of the total votes. This, the party says, can make a big difference in the constituency with 1.09 lakh total voters.
Senior AAP leader Jasmine Shah told Frontline: “In Delhi, I’ll give the example of the Shahdara Assembly constituency, where 11,000 votes were being cut. These are applications given by the local BJP person on his letterhead, saying that 11,000 votes need to be cut. The AAP won this Assembly by 5,200 votes the last time. When we checked a sample, 90 per cent of them turned out to be AAP voters, and 75-80 per cent of them still lived there.”
Modifications to voter list
The AAP has presented around 3,000 pages of documents to the CEC comprising details of what it describes as largescale changes in the voter list.
The BJP, meanwhile, has accused the AAP of relying on “illegal” votes of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi migrants. “AAP leaders are aware they are losing the election, and their efforts to shield fake Bangladeshi and Rohingya voters are now widely exposed. Thus, they are now preparing their defence for after their defeat,” said Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva.
According to Maj. Gen. Anil Verma (Retd.), head of the Association for Democratic Reforms, similar questions about additions and deletions to the voter lists were raised during the Lok Sabha election last year and the Assembly elections that followed. He said the EC must be open about the action it has taken with regard to these complaints and present the details to the public, “because the alleged changes amount to deciding the results even before the votes have been cast.” In Delhi, one party met the EC with proof of applications filed for deletions and additions, said Verma, adding “It is a major issue.”
There is also immense interest in the 5.1 lakh applications for voter registration; it is being speculated whether this is the result of the cash transfer scheme for women and free healthcare scheme for the elderly announced by the AAP ahead of the election. AAP volunteers have been registering people for the schemes and taking their voter ID detail.
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Kejriwal has, meanwhile, alleged that BJP MPs in Delhi have been asked by their leadership to get fake voters registered in the New Delhi constituency. “Let’s see how many applications for making new votes come in the next few days. Everyone should keep an eye on this,” he posted on X.
Voter registration applications were allowed till 10 days before the final date of filing nominations, which is January 17. The addition of names can be made until January 17. The processing of these applications will indeed be looked at very closely by all concerned.
