He “shifted” political course, now the draft voter list after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Punjab marks him as “shifted”. AAP-turned-BJP MP Raghav Chadha has alleged that his name was deliberately classified as “shifted” in the recently released draft voter list of Punjab and has accused the Bhagwant Mann-led government of using the electoral machinery for political vendetta.
He questioned how his name was marked as shifted and alleged that officials at different levels of the electoral exercise were employees of the Punjab Government. Chadha claimed that from Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, Electoral Registration Officers and District Election Officers, the process involves state government officials.
Chadha also cited Paragraph 4(d) of the Election Commission of India’s detailed guidelines for SIR, arguing that public representatives, including MPs and MLAs, fall under a “protected list” whose names, if flagged in the electoral database, should be included in the draft rolls to facilitate the claims and objections process.
The controversy has also triggered a political counterattack from AAP. Party leader Neel Garg rejected the allegation that AAP had any interest in deleting an individual’s vote and alleged that the controversy was the handiwork of the BJP. He referred to the SIR exercise conducted in Bihar and West Bengal and questioned the BJP’s intentions behind raising the issue.
However, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Anindita Mitra, while speaking to NDTV, said she was not aware of any deletion of Chadha’s name. She said she would seek a detailed report from the district election authorities to ascertain whether any deletion had actually been made and, if so, the reasons behind it.
