Raghav Chadha marked ‘shifted’ in Punjab SIR rolls, claims revenge politics by AAP

Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Thursday accused the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government of political vendetta after his voter record in Mohali was classified as “permanently shifted” in the draft electoral rolls prepared under the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision.

Chadha, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab as an AAP member in 2022, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in April this year along with six other AAP MPs under the anti-defection law’s merger provision.

“The AAP government in Punjab has now taken its politics of revenge to the Draft Electoral Rolls. I am a sitting Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, with my voter ID registered in Mohali, Punjab. Yet my name has been classified as ‘shifted’ in the draft electoral rolls,” he said in a post on X.

Chadha acknowledged that the document was a draft and said corrections could be sought during the continuing claims and objections process. The final electoral rolls are scheduled to be published in October 2026.

He said he had already begun using the remedies available under the SIR guidelines to have his electoral record corrected.

The BJP leader maintained that the classification was not merely an administrative error but part of a campaign of retaliation against former AAP leaders who had crossed over to the BJP.

Chadha alleged that Punjab government officials were involved at every stage of the process, from marking and verifying his record to processing it at higher levels.

He pointed out that Booth Level Officers are usually junior state government employees, while Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, Electoral Registration Officers and District Election Officers are also drawn from the state administration. The Chief Electoral Officer, he added, is a Punjab-cadre IAS officer.

Chadha claimed that these officials could face pressure because the state government controls their regular transfers, postings and career prospects after their election-related assignments end.

He further accused the AAP government of using the Punjab Police and administrative machinery against MPs who had left the party, describing the classification of his voter record as the latest instance of such alleged retaliation.

Referring to Paragraph 4(d) of the Election Commission’s detailed SIR guidelines, Chadha said the provision requires the names of members of the judiciary, public representatives, holders of declared offices and prominent figures from several fields to remain in draft electoral rolls if they are flagged during the revision process. This allows the necessary documents to be obtained during the claims and objections period.

Chadha argued that, as a sitting MP from Punjab, his name should have been retained in the draft rolls even if his record had been flagged.

“The instruction was not overlooked. It was wilfully violated in my case,” he alleged, adding that Punjab’s draft electoral rolls were not the AAP government’s “private property”.

With IANS inputs