AAP accuses Chadha of 'backdated' Delhi voter registration, rejects charge against Punjab govt

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday accused Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha of attempting to get his voter registration made in Delhi through a "backdated process", while rejecting his allegation that the Punjab government was behind the deletion of his name from the state's draft electoral rolls.

The AAP, in a post on X, said the Election Commission was conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the Punjab government had no role in deciding whose name was included or deleted from the electoral roll.

"It is a matter of public record that Raghav Chadha has been living in Delhi and not in Punjab. If he no longer resides in Punjab, maintaining or shifting his voter registration was his own responsibility. He cannot now blame the AAP or the Punjab Government for the deletion of a voter entry," the party said.

The AAP also alleged that Chadha was trying to get his voter registration made in Rajinder Nagar in Delhi through a backdated process. "If any such backdated or unlawful exercise has taken place, it must be investigated and the entire truth brought before the public," it said.

A senior Election Commission functionary, however, rejected the claim of any back-channel effort to include Chadha's name in Delhi's voter list, saying, "There was, and there is no such move whatsoever."

AAP national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar also hit out at Chadha, saying, "The Punjab government is not conducting SIR. Raghav Chadha should show some courage and question the right people instead of falsely accusing the AAP."

Kakkar alleged that the SIR exercise resulted in the exclusion of voters' names in several states and questioned Chadha's response to the issue.

"If he tried to include his name through backdated entry and get his name included in Rajinder Nagar, if he has committed such illegality, then the matter will not stop here. Because other people do not have the same opportunity," she said.

The AAP asserted that if the BJP or anyone else had facilitated any such backdated entry, it would pursue the matter "to its logical conclusion" and expose the truth.

The reaction came after Chadha, a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, alleged that his name had been marked as "shifted" in the draft electoral rolls despite his voter ID being registered in Mohali.

"The AAP government in Punjab has now taken its politics of revenge to the draft electoral rolls. I am a sitting Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, with my voter ID registered in Mohali, Punjab. Yet my name has been classified as 'shifted' in the draft electoral rolls," Chadha said in a post on X.

Chadha accused the AAP government in Punjab of using the electoral machinery for "political vendetta".