Raghav Chadha, the youngest MP in the Rajya Sabha, has been included in the list of millions of voters whose names have been culled off draft electoral lists created by the Election Commission during its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The updating of the names last year has removed (estimated) 13,37 crore names nationwide. On the draft electoral roll which was issued on Aug 13 following release, the name of Raghav Chadha is also included in the list of “absent, shifted, deceased and duplicate” voters in Punjab. His entry has been changed and is now considered “permanently shifted.”
Prior to joining BJP in April 2026, Chadha had been a member of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who elected her to the Rajya Sabha in 2022. His absence from the Punjab draft roll has ushered in a political debate.
Chadha said that the “political vendetta” was being carried out by the AAP government in Punjab. The Punjab government and AAP have denied it, however, stating that the Special Intensive Revision is in the hand of the Election Commission and that it has no involvement in the process.
Election Commission records show that Chadha was among around 20.66 lakh voters deleted from the draft roll from whom only 9% were registered for elections in the state of Punjab before the SIR came into effect.
The Punjab’s last electoral roll for the SIR will be published on October 12. People whose names were removed at the draft stage will have claims and objections filed against this process between August 13 and September 12, for restoration.
While the SIR guidelines allowed for remedies to be called, Chadha said he believed the “wrongful classification” of his name will be fixed when the electoral rolls are made and published in October 2026.