Warning against any attempt to cast “fake votes” in favor of any particular political party, Mann said AAP leaders and workers would be deployed along with booth level officers (BLOs) at every polling station across Punjab to monitor the exercise and prevent any irregularities. Responding to a question, he said that SIR of voter list is going to start in Punjab from June 15 and said that the Election Commission of India should resolve the issues raised by all political parties in this regard. We do not want negativity to spread in Punjab that real votes get deleted and fake votes are created, or votes of supporters of a particular party get deleted or fake votes are created. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here, Mann said, “We will monitor (SIR) ourselves, our booth level agents and our volunteers will be present. No eligible citizen’s vote will be removed and we are in touch with the ECI for this.” He said that the SIR should be conducted in a transparent manner, if any political party has any complaint, the ECI should resolve it. Concerns raised in several states regarding deletion of genuine votes and inclusion of fake entries have created concern among citizens, making it imperative for the ECI to act with utmost responsibility and neutrality. Complaints have emerged from various states about deletion of lakhs of genuine votes and manipulation in the verification process, but the people of Punjab will not allow such practices in the state,” he claimed. He urged the Election Commission (EC) to conduct the entire SIR exercise with complete honesty, transparency and fairness, while also ensuring that public objections are resolved without any delay. Clarifying AAP’s stand on the amendment of the voter list, Mann said, “The names of dead persons or those who have moved abroad permanently after acquiring foreign citizenship should naturally be removed from the voter list, but no bona fide resident of Punjab should face harassment or denial of the right to vote under any circumstances.” The CM further revealed that about 83 per cent of voter mapping has already been completed in Punjab and urged citizens to actively participate in the verification process to protect their democratic rights. Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Anindita Mitra on Thursday had said that under the SIR, booth level officers across Punjab will go door-to-door from June 25 to July 24 to fill voter forms. For this exercise, the entire election machinery including 24,453 BLOs and 2,476 observers has been deployed. He further informed that the training of BLOs and other preparatory arrangements related to the SIR exercise will be done from June 15 to June 24. He said that the objective of this exercise is to ensure inclusion of name of every eligible citizen in the voter list and removal of names of ineligible persons from the voter list.