UP Elections: BJP is seeking an inquiry into a "large-scale deletion" of names of eligible voters.
The BJP has moved the Election Commission seeking an inquiry into what they said was a "large-scale deletion" of names of eligible voters from electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh. The state has already voted in five of the seven phases of the assembly elections, in which the party is hoping to wrest power from the ruling Samajwadi Party.
A BJP delegation led by Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission, contending that there has been a large-scale deletion of names of genuine voters. This, the memorandum said, was a clear violation of the constitutional guarantees to citizens.
"The commission may institute an inquiry into such state-wide and unauthorised deletion of valid voters from the electoral rolls, fix responsibility and institute prosecution of officials responsible," the party said in the memorandum.
The BJP has claimed that it received complaints from almost every assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh that the names of voters have been deleted from the electoral lists without any advance warning.
The party also asked the Election Commission to ensure that all Electors Photo Identity Card holders be allowed to vote in the remaining two phases of the assembly polls. The phases 4 and 5 of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections will be held on March 4 and March 8. The results will be declared on March 11.
Of the five states going to polls in this round - Punjab, Goa, Uttarkhand, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh - the election in the last is considered the most crucial. The 403-seat assembly happens to the largest and is considered a dress rehearsal before the 2019 general election.
(With inputs from PTI)