Voter list row: Election officer says Sanjay Singh's allegations 'incorrect, baseless'
New Delhi, Jan 4: The district election officer of New Delhi on Saturday rejected as "baseless" AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh's allegations related to the deletion of voter names in the assembly constituency from where party convener and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will contest upcoming polls.
The allegations of Singh that the district election officer (DEO), New Delhi, did not provide details of applicants seeking vote deletion and that the officer was "deliberately" deleting names of voters were "factually incorrect and baseless", the DEO said in a post on X.
The district magistrate of New Delhi doubles as the DEO during elections.
Singh on Friday met the New Delhi DE0 seeking names of those who filed applications for deletion of names of voters in the constituency.
The AAP has accused the BJP of filing applications in bulk for the deletion of names of voters who support the Kejriwal-led party across Delhi.
The officer asserted that the process of deleting any name from the electoral roll is carried out after a thorough verification strictly in accordance with the Election Commission's guidelines and a mere submission of a list for deletion does not start the process.
"As per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the summary of Form 7, which includes the names of both the objectors and objectees, is shared with all recognised political parties including AAP on a weekly basis through Form 10," the New Delhi DEO said in a post on X.
This information is also uploaded on the official website of CEO Delhi for public access and transparency. Hence, the statement that objectors' names are not being shared is factually not correct, he said.
The officer said the process of deleting any name from the electoral roll is carried out strictly in accordance with the guidelines issued by the ECI. The process starts with the filing of form 7 and involves a thorough field verification by the Booth Level Officers (BLOs), BLO supervisors, and other officers as per prescribed norms.
"Mere submitting a list for deletion doesn't start the deletion process," he said.
The officer cited two applications filed for deletion of the name of Singh's wife Anita Singh from New Delhi's voter list, saying upon field verification, the BLO found her residing at the given address and both Form 7 applications were rejected.
An FIR was also lodged against the applicants for wrongful filing of Form 7, he added.
"The allegation that the DEO, New Delhi, is deliberately deleting the names of genuine electors is entirely baseless and unsubstantiated. All deletions are carried out in strict compliance with ECI norms to maintain the integrity and accuracy of the electoral roll," he said.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva charged that the AAP leaders including Singh were threatening election officers to ensure fake votes are not deleted from the New Delhi constituency.
"Kejriwal is losing from the New Delhi Assembly constituency, and this fear of defeat has left the Aam Aadmi Party in a state of panic," he alleged.
The AAP in a statement alleged that the BJP has been caught "red-handed" while attempting to manipulate the voters list.
The two individuals who had submitted applications to delete the vote of Sanjay Singh's wife were backed by BJP leaders, the party alleged.
After the summary revision process closed last month, the BJP filed applications to delete 5,000 names and add 7,500 names in the New Delhi Assembly constituency, claimed Aam Aadmi Party.
"Bharatiya Janata Party is conducting a targeted operation to delete names of AAP voters in New Delhi. Names of citizens living here for 40 to 50 years are being deleted, tomorrow BJP might even get their homes bulldozed and claim that they never lived here," Singh alleged on Friday.
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SC quashes FIR against Karnataka BJP MLA R Ashoka in land allotment corruption case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has quashed an FIR registered by the Karnataka Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against former deputy chief minister and BJP MLA R Ashoka in a land allotment corruption case.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and Vipul M Pancholi said the FIR shows a concerted effort on the part of the complainants to cast aspersions on the credibility of the appellant as a public leader and impute ill intention on him.
"The actions against the appellant ex-facie appear to be politically motivated and thereby afflicted by malice, even if delay was kept aside, the prosecution of the appellant could not proceed in the eyes of the law," the bench said.
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In this case, an FIR was registered by the Karnataka ACB to probe the allegations made regarding illegalities in land allotments during Ashoka's tenure as head of the Bengaluru South Taluk Bagar Hukum Land Regularisation Committee.
A complaint was filed that during his tenure, illegal allotment of government land meant for SC/ST and the poor was made to his family members, political followers and corporators.
The top court referred to India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's 'Tryst with Destiny' speech in which he said, "The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity."
Setting aside a Karnataka High Court order that dismissed Ashoka's petition seeking quashing of the FIR against him, the apex court observed that the proceedings were initiated against Ashoka, a public servant, without obtaining a sanction order from the state government.
"Not to overextend the issue, it is seen that the record is conspicuously silent on any sanction having been obtained against the appellant. Since no investigation could have begun without such sanction, the preliminary report of the ACB, subsequent FIR and any and all proceedings thereafter have operated in the face of an express bar," the bench said.
