Delhi poll panel to take legal action against 'misleading' calls

Delhi's chief electoral officer on Saturday said that they will be taking legal action against those calling to residents of the capital to tell them that their names have been deleted from the electoral rolls and that they will get them restored. On the other hand, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party said that it has discovered that a large scale operation for fraudulent deletion of voters from Delhi's electoral rolls was underway and asked the poll panel to explain.

In a statement, the CEO's office said the unknown persons have told the people that the callers will get the same restored in the electoral roll, and advised people to beware of such misleading calls. "Separate legal action as required/deemed appropriate is being taken," it said.

"The only authority to add or delete a name in the electoral roll is Electrol Registration Officer. Any eligible citizen can apply directly to him for the inclusion of his or her name in electoral roll," the CEO's office said. It also requested people to check the true status of their enrolment from the helpline number, website and their voter centres.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a series of tweets, said that the Election Commission gave the AAP list of 24 lakh names deleted in Delhi and his government's inquiries had found deletions to be wrong. He asked why the Election Commission was protecting the officers responsible and stopping the Delhi government from inquiring into all the deletions.

"Incumbents come and go. Election Commission is too precious an institution for Indian democracy. EC's integrity and credibility ought to be protected. EC must not be allowed to become agent of a political party," he tweeted.