Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged on Saturday that the BJP had deleted half of the voters from the Bania community in Delhi as a part of the ongoing revision of electoral rolls.
In a Twitter exchange with BJP MP and Union Minister Vijay Goel, who like Mr. Kejriwal is from the Bania community, the AAP chief said that 4 lakh out of 8 lakh Bania voters had been struck off the rolls.
With the AAP accusing the BJP of having voters from the Bania, Poorvanchali and Muslim communities deleted from the rolls ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Goel took to Twitter on Saturday to say that the Delhi’s Banias were upset because the AAP thought they were “fools”.
Would the community believe that the BJP would target it, he asked.
Mr. Kejriwal responded by saying that the community, which has traditionally been engaged in trade, would not vote for the BJP in the 2019 elections due to the Centre’s policies, like the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax regime. In response, Mr. Goel accused Mr. Kejriwal of using caste for politics.
“Kejriwal’s tweet proves that there is an attempt being made to practice politics in the name of the Bania community which hates lies. It seems I have touched @arvindkejriwal’s raw nerve. This politicking in the name of caste and community is not good [sic],” Mr. Goel said in response to one of Mr. Kejriwal’s tweets.
Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly Vijender Gupta, who was part of an all party meeting at the Delhi Election Commission in August and recently accused the AAP’s representatives at that meeting of keeping silent on the issue then, also jumped into the fray.
‘Spreading lies’
“The AAP, in panic, is spreading lies in line with its politics of religion, caste and community by including 2.5 lakh voters, who got their names removed from electoral rolls of their own volition by filling Form 7. This reminds of a Nusrat Ali song. I think about how innocent they were. What have they now become before our very eyes [sic],” Mr. Gupta tweeted in response to Mr. Kejriwal.
The Rohini legislator also released snapshots of lists of voters attacking Mr. Kejriwal by stating that his “information was incorrect” in addition to arguing that as per data accessed from the commission, while 8,38,049 names had been deleted by suo motu as many as 13,73,300 new names had been added.
On its part, the AAP, in a statement, alleged that the BJP “only used the Bania community for funds” during elections.
