People outside of a polling station during the Delhi Assembly elections, at Jamia Nagar, Okhla seat, in New Delhi on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
There were no major complaints of names deleted from the voter’s list during polling in the New Delhi Assembly constituency on Wednesday (February 5, 2025), despite the Aam Aadmi Party’s repeated allegations in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly election that the BJP was attempting large-scale manipulation of the electoral roll.
Election Commission officials had dismissed the allegations as baseless.
The Hindu criss-crossed the New Delhi Assembly constituency, but did not find anyone whose name was not on the voter list when they arrived at their polling booths on Wednesday (February 5, 2025), except for a group of people who had previously lived in a slum near Kali Bari which was demolished in October 2024, after which they had moved away from the area.
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No complaints
Prema Devi, 60, who lives in a slum cluster near Lodhi Road, said that she did not face any issues while voting. “I voted earlier in the day and did not face any issue. None of the people who live in my slum that I know had any problems. But we go and vote every election in the fear that otherwise, our names will be deleted from the voter list,” Ms. Devi said, standing next to her tea stall.
At her polling booth, a school in Lodhi Road, volunteers also said that they had not received any complaints of names being deleted from the electoral roll on Wednesday (February 5, 2025) morning.
Outside another polling booth near Pilanji village, Muni Devi, 55, said that she had voted without any difficulty and did not know anyone who faced any problems.
At Pilanji village, Bima Devi, 43, said that she also did not face any difficulty, and she has not heard anyone raising any complaint. “My husband’s name was not there, but it was not there for the Lok Sabha election also, but we did not go to get it added. We should have done it,” she added.
Unfounded fears
At an election booth in B.K. Dutt Colony, volunteers and officials said that there had not been any issues in terms of names being deleted. Bhanu, 45, who voted at the booth, said that her neighbours had also voted earlier in the day without any problems.
Voters near the Valmiki Basti, the area where former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal first picked up his broom (the AAP’s party symbol), did not experience any name deletions. Similarly, in a booth in Kidwai Nagar, several voters were worried about their names being deleted but discovered that their fears were unfounded,
The New Delhi Assembly constituency is the site of one of the most high-pitched fights in the State election. AAP chief Mr. Kejriwal, who is seeking re-election, is pitted against Parvesh Sahib Singh and Sandeep Dikshit. Mr. Singh and Mr. Dikshit are the sons of two former Chief Ministers of Delhi, Sahib Singh Verma and Sheila Dikshit respectively.
Published – February 05, 2025 10:16 pm IST