New Delhi, September 3, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha has accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government of political vendetta after his voter record in Mohali was marked as “permanently shifted” in the draft electoral rolls prepared under the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Chadha, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on an AAP ticket in 2022, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in April this year along with six other AAP MPs, invoking the anti-defection merger provision.
In a post on X, Chadha alleged that the Punjab government had taken its “politics of revenge” to the electoral revision process.
“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.
Chadha acknowledged that the rolls currently under discussion are only draft rolls and that corrections can be sought during the ongoing Claims and Objections process. He said he was already pursuing the remedies available under the SIR guidelines, with the final electoral rolls scheduled to be published in October 2026.
However, he alleged that the classification was not a “mere clerical mistake” but a “clear case of political vendetta”.
“Who marked me as ‘shifted’? An official of AAP’s Punjab Government. Who verified that classification? Again, an officer of AAP’s Punjab Government. Who processed it at higher level? Once again, the same AAP’s Punjab Government official,” Chadha alleged.
He further claimed that officials involved at various levels of the electoral revision process, including Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, Electoral Registration Officers and District Election Officers, are state government officials. He also pointed to the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer being a Punjab-cadre IAS officer.
Chadha alleged that such officials could face political pressure because their transfers, postings and careers are controlled by the state government after their electoral duties end.
He also claimed that the alleged action was part of a wider pattern of retaliation against AAP leaders who subsequently joined the BJP, alleging that the Punjab Police and administrative machinery had been used against such leaders.
Chadha cited Paragraph 4(d) of the Election Commission’s Detailed Guidelines for SIR, which provides for the inclusion in draft electoral rolls of names of public representatives and certain other prominent individuals whose names had earlier been flagged in the electoral database, allowing necessary documents to be collected during the Claims and Objections period.
“I am a sitting Member of Parliament from Punjab. If at all my name was flagged, Paragraph 4(d) required my inclusion in the draft electoral rolls. The instruction was not overlooked. It was wilfully violated in my case,” he alleged.
“AAP may run the Punjab Government, but Punjab’s Draft Electoral Rolls are not its private property,” Chadha added.
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