The Hindu : BJP alleges bungling in voters' list

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

BJP alleges bungling in voters' list

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB.17. The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party today accused the Congress of wrongdoing and bungling while adding new names to the voters' list in the Capital and urged the Chief Electoral Officer to order an inquiry into the whole scam. It sought a proper verification of the new names in the electoral rolls to prevent bogus votes.

The BJP delegation led by its Delhi unit president, Harsh Vardhan, met the senior Consultant in the Election Commission, K.J. Rao, and submitted its complaint.

The delegation expressed concern over the shortcomings in the existing voters' list and described the mass enrolment of new voters as a big scam.

The meeting of the Delhi BJP also condemned the manner in which the Congress was adding new names to the voters' list and said the submission of 8.22 lakh new forms was a cause for concern.

It said that every year people come and go from Delhi but deletion of names from the electoral list hardly takes place. It said the trend of adding bogus voters should be checked and the Election Commission should act fast on the issue.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that even three months before the Vidhan Sabha polls were held in Delhi, the Election Commission had carried out a drive to recruit new voters. "How is it possible that within a short span of two months that nearly 8.22 lakh new forms have been filled?" he asked, adding that this was a clear indication that a conspiracy was being hatched to hijack the Lok Sabha polls. He charged the Delhi Congress MLAs and Councillors with filling forged forms and submitting the same to the Election Commission.

Interestingly, the BJP had printed around two lakh forms on its own for distribution among its party cadres for enrolling new voters before the Lok Sabha polls.

However, due to lack of coordination and infighting in the party, only 50,000-odd forms were submitted to the Election Commission. On the other hand, the Commission received around 8.22 lakh forms for addition of names. The last date for submission of the forms was January 29.

The mass submission of forms took BJP leaders by surprise and sent alarm bells ringing at various levels within the party.

It is after this revelation that the BJP woke up from the slumber and started crying foul. "It is the failure of the organisation to carry out the enrolment drive for new voters effectively. We cannot blame the Congress for our shortcomings and the total lack of coordination has resulted in such situation. Even if half the names are accepted by the Election Commission, things would become difficult for the party,'' a senior BJP leader confessed.

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