AAP stages ‘vote theft’ protest in Delhi, workers stopped by police barricades

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and workers were stopped by police barricades on Wednesday while marching from the Sindhi Academy near Kashmere Gate towards the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office. The protesters alleged widespread "vote theft" and raised concerns over the deletion of names from electoral rolls.

AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said the party would approach the Delhi CEO over what he described as irregularities during the 2025 election and subsequent voter-list revisions.

"Today, we will approach the CEO, the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, because in the irregularities they committed during the election, AAP was defeated unfairly in 2025. Following that, nearly 50 lakh votes—around 47 lakh people's names were deleted during the SIR (Special Intensive Revision); 11 lakh were deleted prior to the SIR, and notices were issued to 33 lakh people. If they strike off more than half of Delhi's votes like this, it is outright fraud," Bhardwaj said during the march.

Bhardwaj said AAP would continue raising the issue against both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission.

"We have been continuously raising our voice against the BJP and the Election Commission, and we will keep raising it," he asserted.

On the opposition's broader INDIA bloc campaign, Bhardwaj said, "We are not part of the INDIA bloc, but we are certainly in India."

The AAP protest came a day after Rahul Gandhi led INDIA bloc MPs in a march from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday. The opposition leaders sought the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise.

Police stopped the march near the NITI Aayog area, following which Opposition leaders staged a sit-in.

The Opposition has accused the Election Commission of not addressing its concerns regarding voter-list revisions and has sought greater transparency in the SIR process. The INDIA bloc had also announced a broader "Save Democracy" campaign, including protests against the CEC and the SIR exercise.

Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the electoral process was being undermined and has sought a meeting with the Election Commissioners to raise the opposition's concerns. The BJP has defended the electoral revision process and accused the Opposition of questioning institutions after electoral setbacks.

The dispute over the SIR exercise continues amid a wider debate over voter-list revisions, Form 6 and the role of the Election Commission, with the Opposition seeking answers from the poll panel and the ruling side defending the exercise.