The failure of Arvind Kejriwal to cast his vote in the Uttar Pradesh polls on Tuesday prompted Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh to take a dig at Team Anna, wondering whether it believed in democracy or not.
“Great protectors of probity in public life. Anna (Hazare) doesn’t go to vote. Kejriwal doesn’t care to see whether he is registered as voter,” Mr. Singh said on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
Mr. Singh, a known critic of Team Anna, said “Obviously Team Anna doesn’t practice what it preaches ! They should clarify whether they believe in Democracy or not.
“If they do believe in Democracy then what form of Democracy?,” he asked.
Reports from Ghaziabad earlier had it that Mr. Kejriwal faced some protests on Tuesday as he decided to leave for Goa for campaigning without casting his vote in the U.P. polls but in an anti-climax he could not exercise his franchise as his name was missing from the electoral rolls.
Mr. Kejriwal was expected to cast his vote at a polling station in Indirapuram area, but he left in the morning for Delhi to catch a flight for Goa.
However, some persons protested against his action which prompted Mr. Kejriwal to return to the polling booth.
However, his name was missing in the voters’ list.
“I have a voters identity card. My name was in the voters’ list on the earlier occasions,” he said.
Some voters who were inconvenienced by the media glare on Mr. Kejriwal outside the polling booth also shouted slogans.
Asked about him initially deciding not to cast his votes, Mr. Kejriwal said the Team Anna programme in Goa was finalised a month ago and at that time, they did not realise that the voting day and campaigning programme would clash.
