Raghav Chadha Added to Delhi Voter Roll as AAP Challenges Timing and Procedure
Raghav Chadha’s voter registration has shifted from one political dispute to another.
Days after his exclusion from Punjab’s draft electoral roll became a flashpoint between the BJP MP and his former party, Chadha’s name has appeared on the voter list for Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar Assembly constituency. The Aam Aadmi Party has questioned how the addition was processed and alleged that election rules were bypassed.
Delhi election authorities reject that charge. They say Chadha’s inclusion was handled through the established electoral-roll revision process and under the same statutory framework used for other applications.
That leaves two different issues at the centre of the controversy: why Chadha was classified as having shifted from his registered address in Punjab, and whether his subsequent registration in Delhi followed the required procedure.
The Dispute Started With Punjab’s Draft Roll
The sequence began when Punjab published its draft electoral roll following the Special Intensive Revision exercise.
Chadha, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP elected from Punjab, did not appear as an active voter at his previously registered address in Mohali. His status was recorded as “permanently shifted.”
The draft published on August 13 excluded about 20.66 lakh names, equivalent to roughly 9.7% of Punjab’s pre-revision electorate.
Chadha disputed the circumstances in which his name had been removed and accused the AAP government in Punjab of political retaliation.
“This does not seem like a mere clerical mistake. This is a clear case of political vendetta,” he said.
AAP denied having any role in the Election Commission’s revision of the rolls.
Local election officials offered a procedural explanation. According to the Mohali administration, a booth-level officer visited the Sector 90 address linked to Chadha’s voter registration on three occasions and found the property locked. Officials said his status was changed after the required verification process.
The Punjab roll in question was still a draft, meaning exclusions were subject to the formal claims-and-objections process before publication of the final list.
Delhi Entry Changes the Argument
The political focus shifted once Chadha appeared on the electoral roll in Delhi.
His name was added in Rajinder Nagar, a constituency with which he has an established political connection. Chadha represented the seat in the Delhi Assembly before entering the Rajya Sabha from Punjab.
AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned the timing of the addition.
Bharadwaj said the August 31 draft for the relevant polling part contained 746 voters, while Chadha subsequently appeared as voter number 747. AAP argues that the sequence requires scrutiny and has alleged that the normal procedure for adding a voter was not followed.
The allegation has not been accepted by election authorities, and no finding cited by officials establishes that Chadha was illegally placed on the Delhi roll.
That distinction is central to the story: Chadha’s presence on the Delhi list is confirmed; AAP’s allegation about how he got there remains contested.
Delhi CEO Says Established Procedure Was Followed
The office of Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer has pushed back against AAP’s account.
Election authorities say additions, deletions and corrections during electoral-roll revision are processed by Electoral Registration Officers under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and Election Commission instructions.
For a new inclusion, the relevant application is generally made through Form 6. Other forms cover objections, deletions and corrections to existing entries.
Officials say Chadha’s application was processed through that system rather than through any exceptional arrangement.
His case was also not the only application being handled during the revision. Election officials said approximately 700 applications had been approved by Electoral Registration Officers across Delhi’s 70 Assembly constituencies by Tuesday.
AAP, however, has continued to seek details about the timing of Chadha’s entry and the steps followed before approval.
Political Fight Follows Chadha From Punjab to Delhi
The dispute carries an additional political edge because of Chadha’s break with AAP.
After his Punjab voter status became public, Chadha accused the party he once represented of targeting him. AAP responded by arguing that electoral rolls are administered by election authorities, not the Punjab government.
The party also questioned whether Chadha was ordinarily residing at the Mohali address where he had been registered.
An earlier AAP allegation suggested that an attempt was being made to obtain a backdated voter registration for Chadha in Delhi. An Election Commission functionary rejected that claim, saying there was no such back-channel process.
Chadha has maintained that he followed the applicable procedure for his electoral registration.
The competing claims have turned what would normally be an administrative change of voter address into a wider political argument over how the electoral-roll revision system is being implemented.
Delhi Registration Does Not Automatically Affect Rajya Sabha Seat
Chadha’s status as a Rajya Sabha MP has also raised questions about whether moving his voter registration outside Punjab has consequences for his parliamentary membership.
The legal position is more straightforward than the political argument suggests.
A Rajya Sabha candidate must be registered as an elector in a parliamentary constituency in India. The law does not require a sitting member to remain registered as a voter in the state from which that person was elected to the Upper House.
A shift in Chadha’s electoral registration from Punjab to Delhi therefore does not, on its own, establish that his Rajya Sabha membership is affected.
The more immediate questions concern electoral-roll administration.
Punjab officials say there was a procedural basis for recording Chadha as shifted from his Mohali address. Chadha has challenged the circumstances surrounding that decision. In Delhi, meanwhile, AAP alleges irregularities while election authorities maintain that his inclusion went through the prescribed process.
Unless an election authority or court reaches a contrary finding, describing Chadha’s Delhi registration as an “illegal addition” would go beyond the established facts. It remains an allegation made by AAP in an increasingly political dispute over his voter registration.
