New Delhi : Senior leaders of the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party have written to President Pranab Mukherjee to direct the Prime Minister and the Union Home Ministry to take “punitive action” against Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for “misleading the people” on the issue of regularisation of unauthorised colonies.

The trio – Delhi chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan, Delhi BJP chief Vijay Goel and Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly V.K. Malhotra – stated this at a press conference here on Thursday.

Referring to the distribution of provisional certificates (PRC) to 50 lakh residents of these colonies ahead of the 2008 Assembly elections, Dr. Vardhan said: “The purpose of the government was to get votes of about 50 lakh people of unauthorised colonies in favour of the Congress by misleading them in the elections.”

The development comes after former Delhi Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin, on his last day in office, recommended that the President issue an advisory to Ms. Dikshit asking her to shun populist measures like issuance of PRC in 2008 on the eve of elections. Dr. Vardhan had filed a complaint with the Lokayukta in 2010.

The three senior leaders put forward a series of questions to Ms. Dikshit and the Delhi Government asking about the legal sanctity of provisional certificates and why registration of properties have not started.