Shared details of excluded voters, BLAs should have noted addresses: Delhi poll office

NEW DELHI: The Delhi poll office has strongly denied the allegations made by Opposition parties AAP and the Congress that they had been provided with incomplete details of voters removed from the draft rolls. The election body stressed that it had shared the necessary information and that the booth-level agents (BLAs) of the parties should have noted down the addresses of the voters.

The sharp rebuttal comes after AAP and the Congress alleged that the addresses of the voters marked under the absent, shifted, dead, duplicate’ (ASDD) categories, who were removed from the draft rolls published on August 31, were not provided to the parties. The draft rolls were published after the completion of the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, in which 47.5 lakh electors out of the 1.45 crore voters in the Capital were excluded.

Both AAP and Congress leaders had earlier written to the office of the Delhi chief electoral officer, seeking details—including addresses and photos—of those placed under the ASDD categories.

“We repeatedly told the Election Commission that the names, phone numbers and addresses of those whose names were deleted should be shared with the political parties, so that they can be verified,” AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj had said.

Replying to the claims, the Delhi CEO’s office said in a statement that the political parties had been requested to direct their BLAs to approach the concerned booth-level officers (BLOs) associated with SIR for noting the addresses and other details of electors placed under the ASDD list.

Those excluded from the rolls can file their claims till September 30 through Form 6 with supporting documents. The final voter roll will be published on November 4.