Times News Network




Chandigarh: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia and other party leaders were detained by the police on Saturday while protesting outside the chief electoral officer ’s office in Chandigarh against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged vote theft .




The AAP leaders criticised the BJP-led Centre for detaining protesters at the Cockroach Janata Party’s demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.




Sisodia said the BJP-led Centre had deployed its entire police machinery to prevent people from reaching Jantar Mantar and demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. “The govt had created an atmosphere of fear by detaining young people, lawyers and other citizens seeking to exercise their democratic rights. People are being detained and sent to jail simply for demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner,” he said.




“If Narendra Modi were genuinely popular and had won elections honestly, he would not be afraid of a few young people sitting at Jantar Mantar. But the Prime Minister is afraid because he has become Prime Minister by stealing votes, deleting genuine voters and adding fake votes,” Sisodia said.




He alleged that 40,000 votes had been deleted from Arvind Kejriwal’s constituency, where Kejriwal subsequently lost by around 4,000 votes. He added that 28,000 votes had been deleted from his own constituency, where he lost by just 600 votes. He said these figures warranted serious scrutiny and strengthened the demand for transparency and accountability in the electoral process.




Raising concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Sisodia said, “Genuine voters’ names were being deleted while those of fake votes were being added. In Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due, 13 lakh new votes had been added without the requisite forms being filled, he said.




Punjab cabinet minister Harpal Singh Cheema also criticised the BJP-led Centre, saying young people and citizens from every section of society stood against vote theft. “The country is being pushed towards an Emergency-like situation, with Delhi resembling a police cantonment and extensive police deployment in Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh aimed at preventing protests,” he added.