New Delhi: Janta Dal (United) working President Sanjay Kumar Jha on Thursday, January 9 accused Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal of “hating” the people of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Jha strongly criticised Kejriwal’s recent remarks about “fake voters” from these states and demanded an immediate apology from Kejriwal for his comments.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Jha expressed his anger, asking, “Why do you hate people from Bihar and UP so much, @ArvindKejriwal ji? You should not forget that Delhi is not your property; it is the capital of the country and belongs to all the countrymen. The people of Bihar and UP have achieved a position not only in Delhi but across the world on the basis of their hard work and talent.”
“The palace you have built for yourself is also built using the tax money of the people of Bihar and UP living in Delhi. Your repeated insult to the people of Bihar-UP is intolerable. You should apologize immediately,” read the post further.
बिहार-यूपी के लोगों से आपको इतनी नफरत क्यों है, @ArvindKejriwal जी!
आपको नहीं भूलना चाहिए कि दिल्ली आपकी जागीर नहीं, देश की राजधानी है, और सभी देशवासियों की है।
बिहार-यूपी के लोगों ने अपनी मेहनत और प्रतिभा के बल पर दिल्ली ही नहीं, दुनियाभर में मुकाम हासिल किया है।
आपने जो खुद… pic.twitter.com/fp7tiKobpk
— Sanjay Kumar Jha (@SanjayJhaBihar) January 9, 2025
Notably, the dispute arose after an AAP delegation led by Arvind Kejriwal met the Election Commission to raise concerns about alleged voter irregularities in the New Delhi Legislative Assembly.
The party highlighted a significant surge in voter registrations and deletions on the seat while alleging a “voter fraud” taking place at a large scale.
Former Delhi CM Kejriwal said that a total of 5,500 votes were registered in 22 days. He also claimed that out of 89 people who had applied for deletion of 5500 names from the voter list, 18 denied submitting the request.
“The Chief Election Commissioner is out, but we met with the other two commissioners. One of the issues we raised was that in the New Delhi Legislative Assembly, between December 15 and January 7, a total of 5,500 votes were registered in 22 days. The total votes in this assembly are 1, 00,000. This means that 5.5 per cent of the votes were registered in the last 22 days, which clearly indicates some irregularities. There are issues with these applications,” Kejriwal told reporters after meeting the Election Commissioners, here on Thursday.
“When the lower officials investigated, the individuals whose names appeared on these applications denied having submitted any request to cut votes. 89 people had applied for 5,500 votes, and 18 of them came to the Election Commission and denied submitting any applications. This means there is a large-scale election fraud happening,” he added.
Furthermore, the AAP Chief also alleged that from December 15 to January 8, 13,000 new voter applications were received.
On Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi wrote another letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, raising the issue of adding and deleting the names of voters in the New Delhi Assembly constituency and seeking an immediate meeting on the issue. CM Atishi previously wrote another letter to the CEC regarding the same issue on January 5.
BJP leaders react to Kejriwal’s remarks
Meanwhile coming down heavily on the AAP cheif, Union Minister Giriraj Singh said, “Kejriwal himself is fake and a fraud. He is a ‘namak haram’. He betrayed Anna Hazare. He betrayed Delhi and the people of Purvanchal. He even asked people to not vote for him if he is unable to clean the Yamuna by 2025. The same farzi voter made him a CM. Has he forgotten? It is the people of Purvanchal who have made Delhi what it is today…”
#WATCH | Begursarai, Bihar: On BJP hitting back at Arvind Kejriwal for his remark on Purvanchal voters, Union Minister Giriraj Singh says, “Kejriwal himself is fake and a fraud… He is a ‘namak haram’. He betrayed Anna Hazare. He betrayed Delhi and the people of Purvanchal… He… pic.twitter.com/BScAYkZNmY
— ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2025
UP Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak too reacted sharply on the statement saying, “Arvind Kejriwal, how long will you keep abusing the people of UP and Bihar?. You have crossed the limits today. You are saying that people of Purvanchal are not voters. People of UP-Bihar have given their hard work towards building Delhi – be it roads or skyrise buildings…You should take back your words and apologies to the people of Purvanchal. “
“Seeing his impending loss in the upcoming Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections, he has started abusing the people of UP and Bihar. This is very unfortunate, I would like to tell the people of UP and Bihar, give a befitting reply to Arvind Kejriwal in the upcoming election and make them lose their deposit,” he added.
#WATCH | Delhi BJP President Virendraa Sachdeva says, “I don’t understand why Arvind Kejriwal hates the people of Purvanchal…This is not the first time that he has disrespected the people of Purvanchal…People of UP and Bihar have a big role in the development of the national… pic.twitter.com/15y7Fdh1kR
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2025
Delhi BJP President Virendraa Sachdeva said that, “I don’t understand why Arvind Kejriwal hates the people of Purvanchal. This is not the first time that he has disrespected the people of Purvanchal. People of UP and Bihar have a big role in the development of the national capital…People of Delhi will take revenge for the insult of the people of UP and Bihar.”
The Delhi assembly polls will be held in a single phase on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8.
AAP won 62 out of the 70 seats in the 2020 assembly elections and BJP secured eight seats. ( With inputs from ANI)
