New Delhi [India], January 11 : Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Saturday jumped to the defence of Arvind Kejriwal, saying the Aam Aadmi Party has been highlighting the issue of addition and deletion of names in voters list ahead of Delhi Assembly polls scheduled on February 5, 2025.
Chaturvedi claimed the BJP is trying to create confusion among Delhi's voters, who trust Kejriwal, as they have no other issues left to campaign on.
"Aam Aadmi Party has been continuously raising the issue of how votes are being strategically cut... BJP has no issue left now, so they are trying to make it an issue because they know that the people of Delhi trust Arvind Kejriwal, so they are trying to confuse them. He (Arvind Kejriwal) did not say anything like this, he said that the Election Commission is responsible for where the voters are being added from ...," she said.
Earlier today, during a press conference, AAP MP Sanjay Singh accused Union Ministers, BJP MPs, and leaders of undermining the Election Commission's reputation by engaging in electoral scams and fraud.
Singh specifically targeted BJP candidate from New Delhi, Parvesh Verma, who he claimed, despite being a former MP, has been occupying an MP bungalow from May to January. Singh further alleged that Verma had applied to register 33 votes at the bungalow's address.
The AAP MP also named Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, for applying to register 26 votes at his address, as well as Union Minister Kamlesh Paswan for a similar application with 26 votes.
Chaturvedi also criticized the Congress party for not holding a meeting to discuss the INDIA alliance after the Lok Sabha elections. She felt that as the largest national party, Congress should take the lead in clarifying the alliance's status.
"When the atmosphere of Lok Sabha elections and results was created, a meeting should have been held, but it did not happen. Now that the leadership has been taken by the Congress party, and Congress is a national party, they should have held a meeting and discussion regarding the INDIA alliance. Yesterday a one-sided statement came that this was an alliance till the Lok Sabha and there will be no alliance after that, if this is so then Congress should come among the people and clarify the INDIA alliance...," she said.
The Delhi assembly polls will be held in a single phase on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8.
The last date for filing nominations is January 17. The date for scrutiny of nominations is January 18. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 20.
A three-way contest is on the cards in Delhi between the ruling AAP, BJP and Congress.
Congress, which was in power for 15 consecutive years in Delhi, has suffered setbacks in the last two assembly elections and has failed to win any seat. AAP dominated the 2020 assembly elections by winning 62 out of 70 seats while the BJP got eight seats.