New Delhi: As Rajya Sabha member P Raghav Chadha’s name cried foul over his name’s removal from the Punjab voter list, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday refuted his allegations of political vendetta and said that “everyone knows that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process is being conducted by the BJP government through the Election Commission”.
The development comes after Chadha’s name was deleted from the Punjab draft electoral rolls prepared under the Election Commission’s SIR exercise, with his entry marked as “permanently shifted”. Chadha, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab as an AAP candidate in 2022 and recently joined the BJP, alleged that the deletion was an act of “political vendetta”, claiming that the AAP leadership was “burning with anger” after his departure from the party.
Chadha’s name appears in the ASDD (Absent, Shifted, Deceased, and Duplicate) list published on August 13, with the reason recorded against his entry being “permanently shifted”. He is among the 20.66 lakh voters, or around 9.7 per cent of Punjab’s pre-SIR electorate, whose names have been deleted from the draft electoral rolls.
Reacting to the development, Chadha said that his voter ID is registered in Mohali and questioned why he had been classified as “shifted”. The Rajya Sabha member also pointed out that the electoral rolls were still at the draft stage and said that he was already availing himself of the remedies provided 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 those who had left the party.
“Ever since I left the corrupt Aam Aadmi Party, its leadership has been burning with anger,” Chadha said.
Speaking to IANS, AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said that the state government had no role in the SIR exercise and alleged that Chadha’s statement was aimed at highlighting what she described as “petty politics”.
“Everyone knows that the SIR process is being conducted by the BJP government through the Election Commission; the state government has no role in this. Giving such a statement is just to highlight their petty politics. They should ask this question to the BJP, and they should tell people whether they actually live in Punjab, Delhi, or Mumbai,” Kakkar said.
She further questioned why the deletion of names of ordinary voters did not receive the same attention as Chadha’s case.
“I feel that at least Raghav Chadha is an MP; when his name was cut, it became such big news and is being discussed so much. But think about those countless, voiceless people whose names are removed without you even knowing,” she said.
“In Delhi, 46 lakh people’s names were removed. Have you seen anyone raising a voice for them? In Punjab too, names were removed. Did Raghav Chadha say anything about this?” Kakkar asked.
She further claimed that the AAP had learnt through a newspaper that Chadha was trying to shift his name from Punjab to Delhi.
“So, if the BJP assists in this, then AAP will definitely take action on this,” she said.
Congress MP Manoj Kumar also questioned Chadha’s position on the issue, referring to earlier allegations made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi regarding voter deletions.
“What will he say now? Earlier, when our Rahul Gandhi was saying that something wrong was happening, that injustice was being done to people and their votes were being deleted, he was jumping around and making statements. What will Raghav Chadha ji say now?” he said.
He challenged Chadha to explain his position on the issue and questioned whether similar deletions could have affected electoral outcomes.
“Go and ask him, put a microphone in front of him and ask whether he is in India or not, and make him prove it. Thousands, even lakhs, of such mistakes have happened,” Kumar said.
He further referred to the number of voters whose names have allegedly been deleted in Maharashtra and Delhi and questioned the Election Commission over the validity of elections conducted using those electoral rolls.
“I want to ask a question: the Maharashtra election was held on these two crore votes, and the Delhi election was held on these 44 lakh votes. We are saying that these 44 lakh voters must have cast their votes,” he said.
“Now, if you have deleted the names of these 44 lakh voters saying that they were included wrongly, then the Election Commission should answer my question: if 44 lakh votes were cast in the Delhi election, then this election itself should be cancelled,” he added.
Manoj Kumar also called for the BJP to clarify its position on Chadha’s name being removed from the Punjab draft electoral rolls.
“BJP leaders should be asked what they have to say about Raghav Chadha ji’s name being deleted and what their position is,” he said.
The Congress leader demanded that elections in Delhi and Maharashtra be cancelled if it was established that large numbers of voters had been wrongly included or excluded from the electoral rolls.
“I want to say that first cancel the Delhi election. Cancel the Maharashtra election as well, and for all such names that have been wrongly deleted, give people another opportunity. Call them, hear their objections and investigate thoroughly why their names were deleted,” he said.
Kumar stressed that objections raised by voters should be considered and called for judicial intervention in the matter.
“People’s objections should be considered. The court should also take cognisance. I do not know why the court is silent, but we will certainly say that the court should take cognisance,” he told IANS.
Congress MP Dharamvira Gandhi also commented on Chadha’s political journey, saying that he would not make a detailed statement specifically about him.
“I will not say anything about Raghav Chadha. You probably know everything about him as well. He was part of this party for a long time and quickly became an important part of it,” Gandhi said.
He alleged that Chadha had left the AAP for his own political interests and subsequently joined the BJP along with several others.
(IANS)
