Amid the drama and chaos in the national capital over Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) claims of MLA ‘poaching’ against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of Delhi Assembly poll results, Arvind Kejriwal has now made a fresh charge against the Election Commission (ECI).
Kejriwal on Friday accused the ECI of “refusing to upload” Form 17C, which provides the data of the total number of votes polled by the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in each Delhi Assembly constituency.
“EC has refused to upload form 17C and number of votes polled per booth in each assembly despite several requests,” the AAP chief said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The party has also launched a website, transparentelections.in, where they have claimed to have uploaded copies of Form 17C provided to AAP for every assembly constituency.
“Aam Aadmi Party has made a website – http://transparentelections.in where we have uploaded all the form 17C of every assembly. This form has all the details of votes polled in each booth,” Kejriwal’s post read.
EC has refused to upload form 17C and number of votes polled per booth in each assembly despite several requests. Aam Aadmi Party has made a website – https://t.co/vm6K3f3JcG where we have uploaded all the form 17C of every assembly. This form has all the details of votes polled…
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 7, 2025
The AAP chief also claims that they will be presenting the data of every assembly constituency and every polling booth which was set up in the national capital during the February 5 election, and criticising the ECI for not doing the same “in the interest of transparency.”
“Through the day, we will present the data of every assembly and every booth in a tabulated format as well so that every voter can access this information. This is something that the election commission should have done in the interest of transparency but it is unfortunate that they are refusing to do it,” the post further stated.
Earlier, on Thursday, the AAP national convenor and candidate for the New Delhi Assembly constituency alleged that the BJP is trying to poach the candidates of AAP, offering them Rs 15 crore each. BJP has vehemently denied the allegations. “Some agencies are showing that the ‘Gali Galoch party’ (Referring to the BJP) is getting more than 55 seats. In the last two hours, 16 of our candidates have received calls that if they leave AAP and join their party, they will make them ministers and will give Rs. 15 crores to each of them,” Kejriwal said.
“If his party is getting more than 55 seats then what is the need for him to call our candidates? Obviously, these fake surveys have been conducted with the sole purpose of creating this atmosphere to break down some candidates. But you abusive people, not even one of our men will break down,” he added.
Meanwhile, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena’s Principal Secretary has written to the Chief Secretary of the Delhi government to conduct an ACB inquiry on allegations of bribes offered to MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party.
Delhi recorded a voter turnout of 60.42 per cent in the high-stakes assembly elections on Wednesday, according to data from the Election Commission of India. As per the ECI data, among the eleven districts, North East recorded the highest voter turnout at 66.25 per cent, while South East had the lowest at 56.16 per cent. Votes for the Delhi Assembly elections will be counted tomorrow (February 8).
In the 2025 Assembly elections, the national capital is witnessing a three-cornered battle between the ruling AAP, the BJP, and the Congress. Exit polls have varied in their predictions regarding the margin of the BJP’s victory. One poll suggested that the party could win 51-60 out of 70 assembly seats in Delhi, while two other polls predicted an AAP victory.
According to the P-MARQ exit poll, BJP is likely to win 39-49 assembly seats, AAP 21-31 seats, and Congress 0-1 seats. Matrize’s exit poll predicted a close contest between BJP and AAP. It said BJP is likely to win 35-40 seats and AAP 32-37 seats. It said Congress can win one seat. WeePreside exit poll said AAP could win 46-52 seats, BJP 18-23 seats, and Congress 0-1 seat.
(With ANI Inputs)
