“The margins in assembly elections are narrow. You are against the BJP, you keep speaking against the BJP. If the votes which are not going to the BJP go to you, it will make a difference,” he said.
Responding to allegations that Azad was acting at the BJP’s behest, Sibal said he was not making such a claim but believed the alliance could hurt the electoral prospects of the SP and Congress.
“Ultimately, we all want the BJP to lose,” he said.
Allegations of electoral roll irregularities
Citing alleged irregularities in Maharashtra, particularly Pune, Sibal referred to complaints of wrongful voter deletions and shifting of names between constituencies.
He explained that Form 6 is used for inclusion in electoral rolls, Form 7 for seeking deletion of a name and Form 8 for shifting residence or correcting particulars.
Sibal said Forms 6 and 8 were required to be filed by the concerned voter, while Form 7 allowed another person to seek deletion of a voter’s name, subject to prescribed procedures.
Referring to a report in The Indian Express, he cited a complaint by NCP leader Ajit Gavhane alleging that 58 voters had been wrongfully deleted through Form 7. He said a subsequent inquiry had identified 5,603 such cases across several constituencies.
He also alleged that Form 8 applications for shifting voters between constituencies had been approved without field verification by booth-level officers in Pimpri, Thane and Khadakwasla.
“The CEO office ordered an inquiry. Officials admitted that Form 8 applications were accepted without any field verification. Someone else was filing these forms, and claiming that the voter had shifted,” he said.
Questioning the Election Commission’s assurance that deleted names would be restored, Sibal asked why they had been removed in the first place.
“Form 6, Form 7 and Form 8 — there has been fraud in all three forms,” he said, describing the alleged actions of the Election Commission as a “betrayal of democracy”.
Parliament session
On speculation about a second part of Parliament’s Monsoon Session, Sibal expressed doubts that it would conduct much business, saying the first part had been “dry” and the second was likely to be the same.
He also alleged that defections of MPs from the Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) were aimed at helping the BJP secure a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament.
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