A political controversy has erupted in Punjab after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha’s name was found missing from the state’s draft electoral rolls prepared under the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Chadha has alleged that the move was politically motivated and accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab of targeting him after his departure from the party.
Chadha’s name was included in the list of electors categorised as Absent, Shifted, Deceased and Duplicate (ASDD). His entry was specifically marked as “permanently shifted” despite his claim that his voter registration remains in Mohali, Punjab. The draft electoral roll was published on August 13 as part of the SIR process.
Reacting to the development, Chadha accused the AAP leadership of political revenge. He said that he is a sitting Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab and questioned why his name had been classified as “shifted”. He further alleged that the development was not simply a clerical error but a case of political vendetta following his decision to leave AAP and join the BJP.
Chadha also claimed that the AAP leadership was “burning with anger” since his departure from the party. He alleged that the Punjab Police and state administrative machinery were being used against former AAP leaders who had switched to the BJP. According to Chadha, the classification of his name as shifted was the latest example of what he described as political retaliation.
The controversy comes after Chadha, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab as an AAP nominee in 2022, left the party and joined the BJP earlier this year along with other Rajya Sabha MPs. His political shift has intensified tensions between him and his former party.
The AAP and Punjab government, however, have rejected Chadha’s allegations. The party has maintained that the Special Intensive Revision is conducted by the Election Commission and that the state government has no role in deciding which names are included in or removed from the electoral rolls. AAP has also questioned Chadha’s voter-registration status.
The deletion is part of a much larger revision exercise in Punjab. Around 20.66 lakh voters, or approximately 9.7% of the state’s pre-SIR electorate, have been removed from the draft rolls under the categories covered by the revision. The names in the draft list are subject to claims and objections, meaning the deletion is not necessarily final.
Chadha has said he is pursuing the remedies available under the SIR guidelines and pointed out that the current list is only a draft. The final electoral rolls are scheduled to be published in October 2026, giving affected voters an opportunity to raise objections and seek corrections.
The dispute has therefore developed into a wider political confrontation, with Chadha alleging that the electoral revision process has been used to target political opponents, while AAP maintains that the Election Commission is responsible for the electoral-roll exercise. The final outcome will depend on the claims-and-objections process and the publication of the final electoral roll.
