Votes Deleted On Unprecedented Scale, Tweets Arvind Kejriwal

Allegations of deleted or missing names on voters' lists were reported from various parts of the country and also circulated on social media on the first day of voting for the seven-phase national election. Votes had been deleted on an "unprecedented scale", Arvind Kejriwal alleged in multiple tweets.

Among the first to complain was Apollo Hospitals' Shobana Kamineni, who said she felt cheated after she was told at a polling booth in Hyderabad that her vote had been deleted. "This is the worst day for me as an Indian citizen," she said.

"I came back because I wanted to exercise my franchise. I came to the booth and I was told that my vote is deleted," said Shobana Kamineni, the daughter of Apollo hospitals chairman Prathap C Reddy and the sister-in-law of a Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha polls from Chevella.

Ms Kamineni said she had voted at the same booth in December for the Telangana state polls.

Shobana Kamineni said she had voted at the same booth in December.

Her daughter Upasana Konidela also posted a tweet expressing her dismay, "My mom wasn't able to vote today. She checked 10 days ago and her name was on the list! Now it's deleted !! She pays Tax! Doesn't she count? Isn't she valued as an Indian citizen," posted Ms Konidela.

Another voter said the names of many of his family members were missing even though all of them voted in December. "We are from Hyderabad,Telangana, but dissapointed because few of our family member names were missing in voter list, and joke is just few months back we all have casted assembly votes (sic)," tweeted Atul Jain.

Arvind Kejriwal seized on the reports of "missing" voters and posted multiple tweets.

"Reports coming from all across India that votes have been deleted on unprecedented scale," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief tweeted.

He was reacting to a tweet by Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, about her mother's name being deleted on a flimsy excuse.

Reports coming from all across India that votes have been deleted on unprecedented scale https://t.co/AQoyqhgEnP

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 11, 2019

In a series of tweets, he questioned: "Why do most deleted voters turn out to be anti-BJP voters?

AAP leaders cited reports from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

A few voters started a thread on Twitter to highlight missing names.