Top News

Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha’s name has been removed from Punjab’s draft electoral rolls prepared as part of the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with his entry classified as “permanently shifted”.

Chadha, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket in 2022 before joining the BJP, has alleged that the deletion was politically motivated.

His name features in the ASDD (Absent, Shifted, Deceased and Duplicate) list published on August 13. The reason mentioned against his entry is “permanently shifted”. He is among 20.66 lakh voters, accounting for around 9.7 per cent of Punjab’s pre-SIR electorate, whose names have been excluded from the draft rolls.

Chadha calls deletion ‘political vendetta’

Reacting to the development, Chadha said his voter ID is registered in Mohali and questioned the decision to categorise him as “shifted”.

The BJP MP also pointed out that the electoral rolls are still in the draft stage and said he is already using the remedies available under the SIR guidelines.

“This does not seem like a mere clerical mistake. This is a clear case of political vendetta,” Chadha said in a detailed social media post.

He alleged that the AAP government was using the state’s administrative machinery against leaders who had left the party.

“Ever since I left the corrupt Aam Aadmi Party, its leadership has been burning with anger,” he said.

Chadha Joined BJP In April

The 37-year-old MP left the AAP and joined the BJP in April along with six other Rajya Sabha MPs.

Explaining his decision at the time, Chadha said the AAP had “completely deviated from its principles, values and morals”. The AAP, meanwhile, accused him of being “opportunistic” and questioned his absence from key political battles and protests.

Chadha also alleged that a provision in the SIR guidelines providing a “protected list” for public representatives, including MPs and MLAs, had been “wilfully violated” in his case.

He said Punjab’s draft electoral rolls were “not the private property” of the ruling AAP.

Claims And Objections Window Open

The claims and objections period under the SIR process will remain open until September 12, while the final electoral rolls are expected to be published in October 2026.

The deletion of Chadha’s name from the draft electoral rolls, however, does not by itself affect his position as a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab.

The requirement for a Rajya Sabha candidate to be registered as a voter in the state from which they are elected was removed in 2003 through an amendment to the Representation of the People Act.