Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia on Tuesday criticised the Centre over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging misuse of central agencies to influence elections.
The remarks drew a sharp response from the BJP, which termed the allegations as an attempt to mislead people, as the entire exercise will be carried out by the state government employees.
Addressing an organisational meeting at Guru Nanak Bhawan in Ludhiana, Sisodia alleged that the BJP had earlier used the central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to impact elections and was now trying to do the same through the SIR exercise.
“Fake votes were added, and names of genuine voters were deleted in previous elections. AAP will ensure that not even a single eligible voter in Punjab is deprived of the right to vote,” Sisodia said.
Calling the saffron party as “anti-Punjab”, Sisodia accused the Centre of repeatedly undermining the state’s interests on issues concerning Chandigarh, the Bhakra Dam and Panjab University.
AAP general secretary and media in-charge Baltej Pannu said the meeting was organised to prepare party volunteers and constituency in-charges to counter the attempts to influence the electoral process through institutions, including the election commission, which is conducting the SIR exercise.
AAP Punjab president and cabinet minister Aman Arora was also present at the event.
Responding to the allegations, Punjab BJP general secretary Anil Sareen said SIR was a routine procedure conducted by the poll panel.
“I don’t know why the AAP leaders are afraid when the entire exercise will be carried out by the employees of the state government. They (AAP) are trying to mislead the people and want to create confusion,” Sareen said, adding that the federal agencies are performing their duties and nobody is above the law.
