New Delhi, October 2026: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), along with the Congress and other Opposition parties, staged a protest outside the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office at Kashmere Gate on Wednesday, alleging irregularities in electoral rolls and demanding action over what it described as “vote theft”.
The protest was organised following a call by Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj. A large number of party workers from across the national capital gathered outside the election office, raising slogans including “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod”.
Addressing the protesters, Bharadwaj alleged that irregularities during the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections had contributed to the defeat of senior AAP leaders, including former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
He claimed that Kejriwal had received around 1.45 lakh votes in his constituency in an earlier election, but alleged that around 45,000 votes were subsequently deleted, contributing to his defeat by around 4,000 votes.
Bharadwaj alleged that similar irregularities were now taking place across the country under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He questioned whether a large number of voters in Delhi could simply be excluded from the electoral rolls.
“Our demand is that the votes of those whose names have been deleted should be restored and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should resign,” Bharadwaj said.
Reacting to the deployment of multiple layers of barricading around the protest site, Bharadwaj said the demonstration was peaceful and appealed to the police not to use force against protesters.
Bharadwaj also responded to a post by Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav and called for greater coordination among Opposition parties. He said AAP had participated in several recent protests and claimed that a significant number of those detained during earlier demonstrations were from his party.
He appealed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to intervene, alleging that differences among Opposition parties could weaken the broader campaign against the Election Commission and alleged electoral irregularities.
Bharadwaj said AAP supported protests undertaken with what he described as genuine intentions, citing farmers’ protests, the women wrestlers’ agitation and other public movements.
Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha alleged that the Delhi government formed after the 2025 Assembly elections was the result of “vote theft”. He accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of facilitating similar electoral irregularities across the country and alleged that the Election Commission was no longer functioning independently.
Jha said the protest movement would continue until action was taken against Kumar and announced a major mobilisation planned for October 10.
Tilak Nagar MLA Jarnail Singh also demanded action against Kumar, alleging that the BJP government in Delhi had benefited from electoral irregularities. He called for Kumar’s removal and said the Opposition would continue its campaign until its demands were addressed.
Kondli MLA Kuldeep Kumar said Kumar should resign and alleged that thousands of people had gathered outside the Delhi election office to demand accountability.
The AAP leaders said their protest would continue until their demands for restoration of deleted voter names and action against the Chief Election Commissioner were addressed. The allegations made by the party remain contested political claims.
