• Source:JND
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The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday clarified that the poll body had already responded to the concerns raised by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over alleged voter deletions in the New Delhi Assembly seat, previously held by former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the poll body said, “ECI had sent a detailed reply of 76 pages consisting of 7 annexures, including reports of CEO/DEO on 13.01.2025 to Ms Atishi, the then CM of Delhi.”

This response came after the AAP leader, Saurabh Bhardwaj, earlier in the day, held a press conference alleging voter deletions had occurred ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections and claimed that the ECI had not addressed the issue. Bhardwaj also claimed that the then Chief Minister Atishi wrote to the then Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar in January regarding the suspected voter deletion, but “nothing happened.”

“A total of 2,776 applications were filed, and after that, on December 16, 234 applications, on December 17, 298 applications, on December 24, 1,103 applications, on December 25, 982 applications, and on December 26, 989 applications were filed for vote deletions. In this way, on December 19 also, 500, 700, even 1,000 applications were submitted. This shows that every single day, applications for deleting votes were being filed only within the New Delhi Assembly constituency,” news agency PTI quoted Bhardwaj as saying.

EC’s Response To Bhardwaj’s Allegations

Responding to Saurabh Bhardwaj’s allegation, the poll body said it had earlier addressed the concerns raised by AAP leader Atishi in a comprehensive 76-page reply, including seven annexures, on January 13.

The Election Commission also released a copy of its January 13 reply, clarifying that Atishi had flagged a sudden rise in voter addition and deletion applications through two separate letters dated January 5 and 8. In its response, the poll panel noted that the matter had been thoroughly examined and highlighted that the senior leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann, and Sanjay Singh, had also met with ECI in person to express their concerns.

“The Commission firmly believes that the inclusive, healthy, pure and transparently prepared electoral roll is the foundation of free, fair and credible election,” the ECI stated in its earlier response to Atishi.