Voter Deletion Remarks: SC to Hear Defamation Case Against Kejriwal, Atishi in April

The Supreme Court today said that it would hear the filed against the criminal defamation case against former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena and Arvind Kejriwal over their remarks alleging large-scale deletion of voters’ names from the electoral rolls in the national capital in April 2026.

In August 2025, a Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice NK Singh had scheduled the matter for final hearing on a non-miscellaneous day. The matter will now be heard on April 21, 2026.

When the matter was taken up today, Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora told the court that the issued was similar to the defamation case against Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor, pending before the bench.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju objected to this. The court allowed Arora to file a rejoinder and listed the matter for final hearing.

In May last year, Court had continued the stay in the criminal defamation proceedings and had remarked, "You settle the scores somewhere else, as a political personality, you should have thick skin." Counsel appearing for the complainant had sought four weeks to file his reply.

The Apex Court had previously on September 2024, stayed the criminal defamation proceedings against AAP leaders Kejriwal and Atishi Marlena. AAP leaders Atishi Marlena and Kejriwal had moved the Apex Court challenging the Delhi High Court, which had refused to quash the criminal defamation case filed against them.

The case arose after AAP leaders Kejriwal, Atishi publicly accused the BJP of the deletion of voter names from Delhi's electoral rolls. BJP leader Rajiv Babbar had then filed a criminal defamation suit against them, asserting that the allegation harmed the reputation of the party. Alleging alterations, including both additions and deletions, of around 12,000 voters in the New Delhi assembly constituency, Kejriwal had accused the BJP of “removing names of AAP supporters” from rolls, “adding fake voters” to the rolls and “openly distributing cash” in the segment.

In September 2024, the Delhi High Court dismissed the petition filed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking to quash the summons issued in a defamation suit filed by BJP leader Rajiv Babbar The Bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta rejected the request by Kejriwal and AAP leaders to overturn a sessions court’s decision, which had upheld a magisterial court’s order to summon them as defendants in the case. While addressing a press conference at the AAP headquarters alongside Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and former chief minister Atishi, Kejriwal said the BJP is trying to win the elections through “unfair means after failing to present strong candidates or positions on issues”. "A large-scale ‘Operation Lotus’ began on December 15, with around 5,000 voter deletion applications and 7,500 addition requests filed so far in New Delhi,” Kejriwal had said.

The High Court had deemed the remarks as prima facie defamatory, intended to disparage the BJP by accusing it of orchestrating the removal of voter names. It was observed that these statements were made to gain political advantage. Consequently, the High Court had upheld the trial court's decision to summon Kejriwal and other AAP leaders for defamation. The court noted that while citizens have the right to obtain accurate information to form opinions about political processes, a political party cannot endorse the media to disseminate defamatory statements against rival parties.

Case Title: Arvind Kejriwal & Anr. vs. State of NCT of Delhi

Hearing Date: January 27, 2026

Bench: Justice MM Sundresh and Justice NK Singh