Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party has sharply hit back at its former leader and Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, accusing him of attempting to secure an unlawful, backdated voter registration in New Delhi while falsely pinning the blame on the Punjab government. The political exchange follows Chadha’s public claim that his name was deliberately purged from Punjab’s draft electoral rolls as an act of political vendetta after his defection to the BJP.
AAP clarified that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls is administered directly by the Election Commission of India and not by the Punjab state administration. The party asserted that the Bhagwant Mann-led government holds no jurisdictional role or decision-making power over voter inclusions or deletions in the state database.
Highlighting Chadha’s residential background, the party stated that it is a matter of public record that he resides in Delhi rather than Punjab, making the timely maintenance or formal transfer of his voter credentials entirely his personal responsibility. AAP cited recent media reporting and Election Commission sources to claim that Chadha was attempting to enrol as a voter in Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar assembly constituency using a backdated application process. Demanding an immediate probe, the ruling party warned that it would pursue the matter to expose any facilitation provided by the BJP or local authorities.
The controversy erupted after Chadha revealed on X that his registered voter details in Mohali, Punjab, were marked as “permanently shifted” under the draft rolls published during the intensive revision. Chadha termed the deletion an intentional breach of Election Commission guidelines that safeguard sitting parliamentarians, alleging that Punjab state officials acted out of political anger following his departure from the party.
