ECI to Announce Delhi Assembly Election Schedule Today

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to announce the schedule for the General Election to the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi today.

The press conference will take place at 2:00 PM in the Plenary Hall at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Media personnel from across the country have been invited to the event, which will reveal crucial details regarding the election dates and logistical arrangements for the upcoming polls.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which won a landslide victory in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections by securing 62 of the 70 seats, will seek to defend its position, while the BJP, which won eight seats in the previous elections, aims to improve its performance.

However, the announcement comes against the backdrop of allegations of voter fraud in the New Delhi Assembly constituency. AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal has claimed a "large-scale" irregularity in voter additions and deletions in the constituency. In a post on X, Kejriwal shared a letter written by Delhi Chief Minister Atishi to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi, raising concerns and seeking immediate intervention.

In her letter, Atishi detailed a significant rise in voter applications between October 29, 2024, and January 2, 2025. She reported that 13,276 Form-6 applications for voter additions and 6,166 Form-7 applications for deletions were received during this period.

The Delhi CM highlighted that the deletions amounted to 5.77% of the total 1,06,873 votes listed in the draft electoral rolls published on October 29, 2024. She said that any deletion figure exceeding 2% requires personal verification of requests by the Election Registration Officer (ERO), as per the rules.

The BJP, however, has dismissed AAP’s allegations and accused its leaders of attempting to manipulate the narrative. BJP Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that AAP leaders Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh have been intimidating election officials.

Sachdeva further accused Kejriwal, Atishi, and other senior AAP leaders of conspiring to undermine democratic processes, describing the situation as a "conspiracy to murder democracy." His statement followed a letter from the New Delhi District Election Officer to the Delhi CEO addressing AAP's claims.