New Delhi, May 25 : Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena and AAP leaders late on Friday accused each other of hatching a conspiracy to trouble voters and vitiate the polling process in the national capital, where voting started on Saturday morning.

In a post on X, AAP Minister Atishi said, 'Information has been received that the Delhi Lt Governor today (Friday) ordered Delhi Police to slow down voting in areas where there are a large number of INDIA bloc voters so that people face difficulty in casting their votes. Any such attempt by the administration to make the BJP win is illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional. And I hope the Election Commission will take cognizance of this, and stop any such attempt.'

Replying to the post, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, 'This is shocking. EC should ensure smooth voting in Delhi.'

Later, the Lt Governor's office issued a statement, saying: 'Information has been received that on the orders of Arvind Kejriwal, who is out on interim bail till June 1, power and water minister Atishi Marlena has instructed the power companies and Delhi Jal Board to deliberately cut power supply and stop water supply tonight (May 24) and throughout the day tomorrow (May 25) so that the people of Delhi are troubled.'

'The LG has directed that these orders of Kejriwal should not be followed. Information has also been received that Kejriwal is doing this so that he can habitually confuse and cheat the people of Delhi by blaming the Central government,' it stated.

In a post on X at 12.27 a.m. Saturday, the Lt Governor called Atishi's statement unwarranted and false.

'You have made it a habit, Kejriwal sahab, to keep crying irrespective of the situation you may be in. I have taken a stern view of this unwarranted & false statement on the eve of election against a constitutional authority by a Minister, endorsed by you,' Saxena wrote.

/IANS