BJP: AAP MLAs Using Illegal Bangladeshis for Votes
New Delhi: The bitter battle over the claims of irregularities in the Delhi voters’ list and fake voters escalated on Saturday with BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi accusing the AAP MLAs of helping illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators get voting rights using fake Aadhaar cards. Hitting back, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP leaders of facilitating fake voter registration ahead of Delhi polls.
Launching a fresh attack on the AAP, Trivedi claimed that the Delhi police has issued notice to the ruling party MLA Mohinder Goyal and his office staff in the fake Aadhar card and fake votes case.
“After the scandals involving alcohol and health fraud, a new and dangerous tendency of the Aam Aadmi Party is emerging. Investigation into fake votes in Delhi has revealed that votes of Bangladeshi infiltrators are being made by making fake Aadhar cards and signatures of two AAP MLAs — Mohinder Goyal and Jai Bhagwan Upkar — have been found in this conspiracy... The AAP is taking support from anti-national forces... What is the secret behind Kejriwal's love for the anti-national forces?" the BJP leader asked.
In retort, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh accused the BJP of attempting to deceive the Election Commission by submitting fake voter registration applications in large numbers from the residential addresses of its leaders.
Referring to BJP candidate from the New Delhi seat Parvesh Verma, Singh said, “He is a former MP… but he has filed applications to register 33 votes using the address of this bungalow.”
“Union minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary has filed applications to register 26 votes at his address. Union minister of state for rural development Kamlesh Paswan too has filed an application to get 26 votes registered at his official address,” the AAP leader claimed.
Later in the day, Kejriwal, in a letter to the Election Commission, accused the BJP MPs of “transferring votes from across India” to their residences on a large scale to manipulate voters’ list in the polls.
"What is happening in Delhi today is a stark reminder of the days when India used to witness rampant booth capturing at gunpoint. Had the BJP's attempt to fraudulently delete 5,500 genuine votes (5.5 per cent of total voters) and add 13,000 fake votes (13 per cent of existing total voters) succeeded, the demography of New Delhi constituency would have been permanently altered by a staggering 18 per cent votes," Kejriwal said, calling it as serious and shocking as the large-scale booth-capturing attempts that India has seen in the past.
The AAP chief said that after the party caught these attempts to manipulate voter lists, the BJP has now resorted to a new way to manipulate electoral rolls. Now, it is transferring votes from across the country to the New Delhi Assembly seat using addresses of its own MPs and ministers who live in the New Delhi constituency.
“Shockingly, 33 new votes have been submitted for being transferred to Verma's official residence. Are we expected to believe that overnight 33 people from across India have shifted their residence to that of Verma? If so, then he must be disqualified from contesting elections for indulging in corrupt practices," the AAP chief said.
The former Delhi chief minister called for criminal FIRs against those involved in the alleged manipulation and provided a list of BJP leaders and their official addresses.