Who Released The Garry Thind Whatsapp Group Chat Content To NDP?

While the BC Liberal Garry Thind’s campaign was cleared by Elections BC of not committing voter fraud but NDP continued to hammer Thind and leader Andrew Wilkinson over clear intentions to subvert mail-in ballot provisions after a whatsapp chat showed that supporters of Thind were asking to collect voter data to secure mail in ballots which is a violations of the election act. "We thank Elections BC for their investigation and we are pleased that there is no evidence of anyone voting through the fraudulent methods promoted by those on Garry Thind's campaign,” said NDP North-Delta candidate Ravi Kahlon. However, the intent of the instruction to gather this information was clear: to illegally request mail-in ballots on behalf of other people. The BC Liberals have admitted this much. Yet Andrew Wilkinson has still not explained what Garry Thind knew about this plan, and they have provided no evidence that he acted to correct this instruction until it became public." While the damage from the fallout is done, another question is who on the Garry Thind whatsapp group released the contents of the chat as the Thind campaign has been silent but it exposes the candidate as being weak on campaign security that exposed alleged ethical misconduct.

By Mr. X – Special To DESIBUZZCanada

SURREY – While the BC Liberal Garry Thind’s campaign was cleared by Elections BC of not committing voter fraud but NDP continued to hammer Thind and leader Andrew Wilkinson over clear intentions to subvert mail-in ballot provisions after a whatsapp chat showed that supporters of Thind were asking to collect voter data to secure mail in ballots which is a violations of the election act.

"We thank Elections BC for their investigation and we are pleased that there is no evidence of anyone voting through the fraudulent methods promoted by those on Garry Thind's campaign,” said NDP North-Delta candidate Ravi Kahlon.

However, the intent of the instruction to gather this information was clear: to illegally request mail-in ballots on behalf of other people. The BC Liberals have admitted this much. Yet Andrew Wilkinson has still not explained what Garry Thind knew about this plan, and they have provided no evidence that he acted to correct this instruction until it became public."

Earlier, Kahlon said in a press release that the BC Liberals have fired the campaign worker involved, but have not disclosed any information on Thind’s involvement.

Thind had put out this statement following the voter fraud allegations: "My campaign team and I have been cooperating fully with Elections BC's questions regarding a supporter who improperly asked volunteers to submit vote-by-mail requests on behalf of voters.

"The supporter in question did not have a formal role in my campaign and will not be involved in my campaign going forward. All candidates must abide by election laws. My campaign team and I take this matter very seriously and are working with all our volunteers and supporters to ensure they clearly understand that all voters must submit their own ballot requests personally.

"We will continue to work with Elections BC on this matter and will not comment further until their review is complete."

While the damage from the fallout is done, another question is who on the Garry Thind whatsapp group released the contents of the chat as the Thind campaign has been silent but it exposes the candidate as being weak on campaign security that exposed alleged ethical misconduct.

After BC NDP filed a complaint of Thind’s Surrey-Fleetwood campaign having possibly violated a major election law, it was investigated by Elections.

A letter signed by lawyer Rachel Roy was sent to Elections BC on behalf of the NDP, accusing members of Thind’s campaign of being behind, “a coordinated strategy to request mail-in voting packages online and gather votes.” 

The letter included screenshots showing a member of Thind’s campaign asking others to collect personal information from voters. 

That information includes name, date of birth, address and numbers from government issued IDs.

The screenshots reportedly show a WhatsApp group with the title "Garry Thind-Fleetwood." NDP subsequently released the screenshots to the media.

In the group, a member named Baldeep Jhand allegedly says, “as a team our main task is to register as many voters as we can by ordering ballots in mail.” 

According to Elections BC, it is an offence to request a vote-by-mail package on a voter's behalf.

A person liable can be punished by fines, jail time and a lengthy ban on running for office or voting in BC.