Around 13.37 crore names have been removed from the draft voter lists under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of the Election Commission across the country. Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha's name has also been removed from the voter list of Punjab. Raghav Chadha reached Rajya Sabha as an Aam Aadmi Party candidate in 2022 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in April 2026.
Raghav Chadha has alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of Punjab has deleted his name out of political vendetta. Meanwhile, Punjab government officials and Aam Aadmi Party have said that the SIR process is run by the Election Commission and the state government has no role in it.
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Why was Raghav Chaddha's name dropped?
According to Election Commission records, Raghav Chadha's name has been removed from the draft list of Punjab released on August 13. His name has been put in the 'Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate' list of ASDD. Permanently moved out is written in front of his entry. About 20.66 lakh names have been removed from the total voter list before SIR in Punjab.
9.7 percent names are not in the voter list. Same thing has happened with Raghav Chaddha also. The final SIR list of Punjab is scheduled to be released on October 12. People removed at the draft stage have a chance to be included in the list again by filing claims and objections. For this, a time limit of one month has been given from 13th August to 12th September.
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What allegations did Raghav Chadha make against Bhagwant Mann government?
Raghav Chadha claimed on X that his name has been removed due to political conspiracy. He said that the AAP government of Punjab has now extended its politics of revenge to the draft voter list. He said that this is just a draft list and not the final list. This is subject to the claims and objection process. He said that he will get his name included with the help of the legal provisions existing under the SIR guidelines. He has said that this will be rectified in the final list to be released in October 2026.
AAP government removed Raghav Chadha's name?
Raghav Chadha has alleged that the Election Commission, in its detailed SIR guidelines issued in June 2025, had said that public representatives should be included in the draft list. He said that he is a sitting MP from Punjab. If his name was marked then it was necessary to include him in the draft list under paragraph 4D of the guidelines.
Raghav Chadha said that this instruction was not ignored but was deliberately violated in his case. He said that AAP may be running the Punjab government but the draft voter list of Punjab is not its personal property. Raghav Chadha said that despite being an MP from Punjab, he has been called shifted. This is not just a mistake at the clerk level, it is a conspiracy of political revenge.
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What have Punjab government and AAP said?
Punjab officials and government representatives are rejecting Raghav Chadha's allegations. He says that the allegations are completely wrong. He said that the Punjab government has no role in this process and the Chief Electoral Officer is an officer appointed by the Election Commission.
Aam Aadmi Party has said that SIR is done by the Election Commission and not the state government, hence the Punjab government has no role in deciding whose name will remain or be removed from the list. He said that it is in the public record that Raghav Chaddha has been living in Delhi and not in Punjab.
AAP He said that if he no longer lived in Punjab, it was his own responsibility to maintain or change his voter registration. Now he cannot hold AAP or Punjab government responsible for this.
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Delhi or Punjab, where is Raghav Chaddha from?
According to Section 3 of the Public Representation Act 1951, to become a Rajya Sabha member, a candidate must be registered as a voter in any parliamentary seat in the country. In his affidavit for the 2022 Rajya Sabha elections, Raghav Chadha had said that he is registered as a voter at booth number 52 located in Rajinder Nagar, Delhi. After becoming MP from Punjab, he got his name included in the voter list of Punjab. In the Lok Sabha elections held on June 1, 2024, he cast his vote at a booth in Mohali, Punjab.
The game of Delhi has happened in Punjab?
Before joining BJP in April 2026, Raghav Chadha was in Aam Aadmi Party along with 6 other AAP MPs. He was considered a close associate of Arvind Kejriwal. Then he also alleged that BJP had tampered with the voter list. During the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, along with then Chief Minister Atishi and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, he had accused Kejriwal of a conspiracy of large-scale voter list fraud in New Delhi seat. Now the same has happened with them too.