“What is Mr. Baldeep Jhand’s Role in The Thind Campaign And Was The Surrey Realtor Fired?,” Asks NDP!

On Tuesday, NDP made allegations of voter fraud against the BC Liberals candidate Garry Thind, a Surrey school trustee who’s taken a jump to provincial politics. NDP accused Thind and his campaign of soliciting personal information of voters to request mail in ballots “over the internet” to “gather [a] good number of voters.”  Requesting a ballot or voting on someone’s behalf violates the Corrupt Voting provision of the Elections Act. 

By Mr. X – Special To DESIBUZZCanada

SURREY – It looks alleged dirty tricks and voter fraud is carrying on from the heated Surrey civic campaign to the provincial one in the South Asian dominated city where ill-informed party workers and supporters are always looking for shortcuts to get their candidate elected

On Tuesday, NDP made allegations of voter fraud against the BC Liberals candidate Garry Thind, a Surrey school trustee who’s taken a jump to provincial politics.

NDP accused Thind and his campaign of soliciting personal information of voters to request mail in ballots “over the internet” to “gather [a] good number of voters.”

Requesting a ballot or voting on someone’s behalf violates the Corrupt Voting provision of the Elections Act. 

Elections BC launched an investigation into Surrey-Fleetwood BC Liberal Candidate Thind’s campaign Tuesday night for allegedly violating the “Corrupt Voting” provision of the Elections Act.

Thind put out a statement Wednesday, denying the 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."

But while the candidate and the party denied the allegations, BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson and Thind have not answered pointed questions about what they both knew about the allegations which resulted from discussion on whatsapp group chat between Thind and his supporters including realtor Baldeep Jhand. Wilkinson declined to answer Tuesday night and said he “first heard this about half an hour ago.” 

Wilkinson said “we will hope to have more clarity in the days to come” but did not commit to disclosing what the BC Liberals know about Garry Thind’s role.

NDP.s North Delta candidate Ravi Kahlon wrote a letter to Wilkinson seeking clarity on the voter fraud allegations and Thind’s role in his campaign's plan to illegally request mail-in ballots on behalf of other people. According to Kahlon's press release, BC Liberals have fired the campaign worker involved, but have not disclosed any information on Thind’s involvement.

NDP says this what they know so far:

*Through a Whatsapp group, Thind’s campaign told nearly 100 volunteers to gather the personal information of voters so the campaign could request mail-in ballots on their behalf

*Requesting ballots or voting on another person’s behalf is a violation of the Corrupt Voting section of the Elections Act 

*There are two administrators in the Whatsapp group: Candidate Garry Thind, and Baldeep Jhand, the campaign worker who issued the direction

*The BC Liberals have produced no evidence that Thind or any other person in the group subsequently corrected the campaign’s direction to violate the Elections Act

NDP says this is what they still don’t know:

*What has Garry Thind told the BC Liberal party about his involvement in and knowledge of this activity?

*Did Thind immediately correct Mr. Jhand and instruct volunteers not to engage in this activity?

*Did any of the other 95 people in the group instruct volunteers not to engage in this activity?

*Were there any follow up comments from Garry or other campaign workers in the chat?

*Have the BC Liberals spoken directly with everyone in the group? If not, how can they claim that no volunteers have engaged in this activity?

NDP is asking when the BC Liberals release the full chain of Whatsapp messages?

NDP in an earlier press release said this:

“There are two administrators in the group: the organizer who made the request, and Garry Thind. What exactly did Garry Thind tell the BC Liberals about his involvement in and knowledge of this activity?

“Did Garry Thind immediately correct Mr. Jhand and instruct his volunteers not to engage in this activity?

“Did any of the other 95 people in the group instruct volunteers not to engage in this activity?

“Will the BC Liberals release the full chain of Whatsapp messages?

“Will the BC Liberals immediately provide the names and contact information for all members of the group to Elections BC?

“What is Mr. Jhand’s role in the campaign? Was he fired?

“Have the BC Liberals spoken directly with everyone in the group? 

“If not, how can they claim that no volunteers have engaged in this activity?”