BJP complains to EC, says voters' names deleted in UP

The BJP on Tuesday approached the Election Commission alleging “large-scale deletion of eligible voters” from the published roll in Uttar Pradesh and sought an inquiry to fix responsibility on officials.

A five-member delegation led by Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the Election Commission that they had “received complaints from almost every Assembly constituency”.

The complaints, according to the BJP, said that valid election I-card holders were turned away as their names were deleted “without following the due process of law”.

The party asked the commission to ensure that all voters with valid voter cards are allowed to exercise their franchise in the sixth and seventh phases of polling on March 4 and March 8 in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

“Denial of constitutional right to vote would jeopardise the very core of democratic and electoral processes and any such election conducted on the basis of seriously flawed electoral rolls could be subject to legal scrutiny and annulment of such elections,” Naqvi said in the complaint to the election watchdog. Balbir Punj, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Sambit Patra and Om Pathak accompanied the minister to the poll panel.