AAP Leader Raghav Chadha Alleges Vendetta Over Shifted Status In Punjab Electoral Rolls

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha has accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government of political vendetta after his name was classified as "permanently shifted" in the draft electoral rolls prepared following the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state. Chadha, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab whose voter ID is registered in Mohali, said he was surprised to find his name categorized under the "shifted" classification despite continuing to represent the state in Parliament.

Taking to X, Chadha alleged that the Punjab government had extended its "politics of revenge" to the state's 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 wrote, adding that the classification did not appear to be a mere clerical error but rather what he described as a clear instance of political vendetta directed at him. He further claimed that other former AAP members of Parliament who had similarly defected to the BJP had faced comparable treatment from the Punjab government since leaving the party.

Chadha specifically referenced Paragraph 4(d) of the Election Commission of India's detailed guidelines for the SIR exercise, which he said establishes a "protected list" covering public representatives, members of the judiciary, and prominent individuals from fields including arts, culture, journalism and sports, whose names are meant to be safeguarded from removal during the electoral revision process. He argued that as a sitting Member of Parliament, this provision should have ensured his automatic inclusion in the draft rolls, and that its apparent disregard in his case amounted to a willful violation rather than an oversight.

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Chadha's name currently appears in the state's Absent, Shifted, Deceased and Duplicate (ASDD) list, published on August 13 as part of the broader draft roll released for Punjab. He is among an estimated 2.06 million voters, or roughly 9.7 percent of Punjab's pre-SIR electorate, whose names were left out of the state's draft electoral rolls as part of the exercise. The Punjab deletions form part of a considerably larger nationwide process, with the Election Commission's SIR exercise having excluded an estimated 133.7 million names, or approximately 14.1 percent of the pre-SIR electorate, across 30 states and Union territories covered so far.

Chadha was originally elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab as an AAP nominee in 2022, before joining the BJP in April this year along with six other AAP Rajya Sabha MPs, a move made by invoking the merger provision available under India's anti-defection law. Responding to his allegations, the AAP rejected the claims of political targeting, with a party spokesperson noting that the SIR exercise is conducted by the Election Commission of India rather than the state government, and that the Punjab administration therefore has no direct role in determining which names are included or removed from the electoral rolls.

The party further alleged that Chadha, who it said has been residing in Delhi rather than Punjab, was attempting to shift his voter registration through what it characterized as a "backdated process," and argued that maintaining or updating his voter registration remained his own individual responsibility rather than a matter attributable to the state government. Chadha, for his part, clarified that the current classification stems from a draft rather than final electoral roll, with India's final electoral rolls for the state scheduled to be published in October 2026, leaving scope for corrections through the ongoing "Claims and Objections" process before the rolls are finalized.

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