New Delhi, September 19, 2025 (Townhall Times )
In a dramatic press conference at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headquarters on Friday, Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bhardwaj leveled sensational allegations of “vote theft” against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI). He claimed that during the Delhi Assembly elections in February 2025, BJP orchestrated a systematic manipulation of voter rolls—deleting nearly 6,000 genuine votes while adding about 10,500 fake ones.
Bhardwaj directly questioned the role of former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and current CEC Gyanesh Kumar Gupta, alleging that both had failed to safeguard democracy. “The Election Commission is acting like the BJP’s troll army, providing them with ammunition to target opposition leaders,” he charged.
The press conference, which began at 1 p.m., centered on three main allegations. First, Bhardwaj claimed that in Delhi’s New Delhi Assembly constituency, large-scale voter list tampering took place within just 15 days in January 2025. Holding up documents, he asserted: “This was no coincidence. BJP workers submitted forms en masse to delete voters’ names and insert fake entries.”
Second, he attacked former CEC Rajiv Kumar for dismissing concerns about the voter list with casual poetry, saying this reflected a lack of seriousness about grave electoral violations. Third, he alleged that the current CEC, Gyanesh Kumar Gupta, appeared complicit because no action had been taken on opposition complaints so far. “The Commission is no longer neutral. It is behaving like an extension of the BJP,” Bhardwaj declared.
His remarks came just a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s much-publicized “hydrogen bomb” press conference, where Gandhi presented evidence of nationwide voter roll manipulation. Bhardwaj endorsed Rahul’s claims as “serious and credible” but reminded the Congress that AAP had raised the same issue earlier. “Arvind Kejriwal warned about this in January 2025, but Congress ignored us. Today, we support Rahul Gandhi because this is about saving democracy,” he said.
Bhardwaj also screened a video purportedly showing a Delhi Booth Level Officer (BLO) colluding with BJP workers. He insisted the footage proved that the alleged manipulation was “not local, but directed from the top.” He further accused the ECI of spreading misinformation on social media to weaken the opposition’s credibility, calling it a “weaponized Commission.”
The BJP quickly dismissed the charges as “baseless and desperate.” A Delhi BJP spokesperson said, “AAP cannot accept defeat. The Election Commission functions independently, and the Supreme Court has already upheld its integrity.”
Opposition parties, however, rallied behind Bhardwaj. The Congress described the revelations as a “national issue” requiring urgent debate, while the Samajwadi Party extended support, saying democracy was under threat.
The controversy comes as the ECI conducts its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign in Delhi to clean up voter lists. Bhardwaj warned that if manipulation occurs during this exercise, AAP will launch street protests. He also announced plans to petition the Supreme Court and brief international media about the alleged irregularities.
“This is nothing short of the murder of democracy,” Bhardwaj concluded. After the press conference, he posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Today, the country learned the truth. Vote theft must stop!”
With Delhi headed toward Assembly polls in February 2025, the allegations are expected to heighten political tensions and place the Election Commission under intense scrutiny.
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