BJP MP Raghav Chadha alleges political vendetta over Punjab voter roll deletion

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha has accused the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government of political vendetta after his name was marked as "permanently shifted" and deleted from the state's draft electoral rolls. The deletion occurred as part of the Election Commission of India's nationwide Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Chadha, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab as an AAP nominee in 2022 before joining the BJP in April 2026, stated that his voter ID is registered in Mohali, Punjab. He alleged that the classification was not a clerical error but a deliberate act of revenge by the state government. "The AAP government in Punjab has now taken its politics of revenge to the Draft Electoral Rolls," Chadha said in a social media post on Thursday. The draft electoral rolls for Punjab were published on August 13, 2026. Chadha's name appears on the list of voters classified as absent, shifted, deceased, and duplicate, with the reason recorded as "permanently shifted." He was among approximately 20.66 lakh voters, or 9.7 percent of Punjab's pre-revision electorate, whose names were deleted from the draft rolls.