New Delhi is the headline assembly constituency due to its prominent contestants. But it has also been in the news for another reason: the governing Aam Aadmi Party’s allegation that there have been attempts to delete and add votes on a “large scale”.
Newslaundry looked at the second revised list published on January 20, and found that 59 of New Delhi’s 123 polling booths recorded more than 4 percent additions. In 52 booths, deletions hovered above the caution mark of 2 percent.
The highest deletion rates were recorded in booth number 18 at Kali Bari Marg, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gole Market (53.14 percent), followed by booth number 63 in Sarojini Nagar (38 percent) and booth number 50 (25 percent) in Sunehri Bagh Lane.
From January 1 to January 13, party convener and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and his party colleagues such as CM Atishi Singh, MPs Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh, and minister Saurabh Bhardwaj have addressed at least 13 press conferences on the issue of voter list revisions. On January 13, Kejriwal had claimed that “20, 30, 40” voter addition applications were being filed with the address same as BJP MPs’ residences. Three days earlier, Atishi stated that applications had been sent to add 13,000 votes and remove 5,500 voters during a certain period from December to January. Chadha claimed objectors (who filed deletion applications under form-7) had fake identities. But the district election officer said all changes were being carried as per the norms.
Newslaundry could not ascertain how many applications were actually received by the poll panel for the New Delhi assembly during the period mentioned by CM Atishi. But overall, 5,183 voters have been added and 3,492 deleted – as per a comparison of the draft roll published in October last year and the final list, which came nearly 10 days after the first revised list on January 6.
The chief elector’s office had been cautious and had earlier pointed to the need for “greater scrutiny” of all forms seeking revisions in the list.
A press release by the Delhi CEO had on January 6 said there was an “unprecedented rush” across the national capital to register new voters since December 16 last year. “Over 1.5 lakh form-6 applications have been received in Delhi since this date. This is after adding 3.08 lakh new voters,” read a press release by the CEO’s office. On deletions, it said 69,117 form-7 (applications for deletions) and 83,825 form-8 (applications for migration) were received from October 29 to November 28.
In New Delhi, the total number of voters has gone up to 1,08,564 from 1,06,873 on October 29 last year.
Newslaundry looked at the second revised list published on January 20, and found that 59 of New Delhi’s 123 polling booths recorded more than 4 percent additions. In 52 booths, deletions hovered above the caution mark of 2 percent. The highest deletion rates were recorded in booth number 18 at Kali Bari Marg, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gole Market (53.14 percent), followed by booth number 63 in Sarojini Nagar (38 percent) and booth number 50 (25 percent) in Sunehri Bagh Lane.
The areas with the highest deletions
Newslaundry visited Sarojini Nagar, Sunehri Bagh Lane and Kali Bari Marg where the rate of deletion was the highest.
At Kali Bari Marg (booth 18), 559 names have been struck off. Locals said most of these voters have been rehabilitated by DDA to Narela and Dwarka after their jhuggis were demolished in August last year and in 2019. As many as 104 families have moved to Narela and around 70 to Dwarka.
Around 3.5 km away at Sunehri Bagh Lane where 268 votes are off the voter list, most deletions happened at a jhuggi near dhobi ghat. The jhuggi was demolished around four years ago and residents were rehabilitated to Narela, said locals.
In Sarojini Nagar (booth 63), 451 names have been deleted. Most deletions have occurred in blocks M and I, and HPT apartments — occupied by government employees. In M and I blocks, some voters have moved to other areas because of a redevelopment project. At HPT, names have been deleted because of government transfers, locals told Newslaundry.
Assistant Electoral Registration Officer Rajesh Kumar (New Delhi) told Newslaundry that most voters deleted from the New Delhi list had moved to other places due to demolition. “We do ground verification depending on the instruction from the election commission. If the rate is high, say around 10 percent to 20 percent, we have to be sure that no genuine name is struck off,” he said.
Locals from Sunehri Bagh Lane said election officials had visited the area a few days ago to cross-check deleted names.
The trends
Several polling booths in the New Delhi assembly show high addition and deletion rates.
In the final list, the 10 booths where the deletion percentage was the highest are: Kali Bari Marg, Kendriya Vidyalaya (53.14 percent); Sarojini Nagar, Navyug School, Block-1 (38.45 percent); Tughlaq Crescent, NDMC School of Science and Humanities Education, Sunehri Bagh (24.79 percent); Air Force School, OWC Junior Wing, Race Course (9 percent); Sarojini Nagar, Atal Adarsh Vidyalaya, Babu Market (7.92 percent); Air Force School, OWC Junior Wing, Race Course (7.49 percent); Mandir Marg, St Thomas School (7.26 percent); Sarojini Nagar, Atal Adarsh Vidyalaya, B Avenue, behind Vinay Nagar police station (7.06 percent); CPWD Enquiry Office, South Avenue (6.85 percent); and Sarojini Nagar, Navyug School, Block-1 (6.13 percent).
The top 10 booths where addition rates were the highest are: Laxmi Bai Nagar, Navyug School (17.17 percent); Mandir Marg, Atal Adarsh Bal Vidyalaya (16.35 percent); Atal Adarsh Prathmik Vidyalaya, RK Ashram Marg (16.24 percent); Atal Adarsh Prathmik Vidyalaya, Kidwai Nagar East (15.97 percent); Atal Adarsh Bengali Balika Vidyalaya, Gole Market (15.50 percent); Kali Bari Marg, Gole Market, Kendriya Vidyalaya (13.83 percent); Laxmi Bai Nagar, Navyug School (13.76 percent); Sarvodaya Vidyalaya (Rani Durgawati), Kidwai Nagar East (13.63 percent); The Union Academy Senior Secondary School, Raja Bazaar, Bangla Sahib Road (13.6 percent); and Peshwa Road, Navyug School, Mandir Marg (13.6 percent).
Delhi votes for 70 assembly seats on February 5 and results will be announced three days later. Among these seats, New Delhi is the headline act with three prominent faces — Kejriwal, and former MPs Parvesh Singh Verma and Sandeep Dikshit — in the fray.
This year, the BJP is looking to cross the majority mark in Delhi for the first time in 26 years while the AAP is hoping to retain power for the fourth time. The Congress is focusing on improving its vote share to 10-12 percent from an abysmal 4.26 percent in 2020.
Support our NL Sena project on Delhi polls to uncover issues that are usually pushed to the margins by high-octane campaigns.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
