Deleted from Punjab, Raghav Chadha back on Delhi rolls; illegal entry, says AAP

Raghav Chadha, a Rajya Sabha member who switched from the Aam Aadmi Party to the Bharatiya Janata Party in April, was listed on Delhi’s electoral roll on Tuesday after his name was deleted from Punjab’s draft SIR roll in August. The AAP accused him of securing the Delhi entry unlawfully, while Chadha issued a statement asserting that he complied with all Election Commission of India (ECI) procedures and dismissed the allegations as frivolous.

The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office reported that roughly 214,000 Form‑6 applications were received while the Delhi roll was frozen for the SIR draft stage from 16 June to 31 August. In the eight‑day window following the draft’s publication, 25,011 Form‑6 forms were submitted, of which 700 had been approved by electoral registration officers as of Tuesday. Chadha’s entry appears at serial number 747 in booth 46 of the Rajinder Nagar Assembly constituency, a booth whose draft roll published on 31 August ended at serial number 746.

Chadha had been registered as a voter in Punjab since at least 2024, and his name was listed among the Absent, Shifted, Deceased and Duplicate (ASDD) voters removed from Punjab’s draft SIR roll on 13 August. Under SIR guidelines, voters omitted from the draft can re‑enter the final roll by filing a Form‑6 during a one‑month claims and objections period; approved forms are incorporated into the final rolls slated for release on 12 October for Punjab and 4 November for Delhi. The dispute highlights the procedural intricacies of voter registration and the political sensitivities surrounding high‑profile candidates.