Delhi election officials have explained the story behind the addition of AAP turned BJP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha to the electoral roll of national capital city amid political controversy on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
On August 26, the Office Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, reported that Chadha had filed the Form 6 for the electoral rolls for Assembly Constituency #39 in Rajinder Nagar. After undergoing the proper procedure, his application was subsequently approved on September 2.
The poll body said that Chadha had been enrolled on regular updation of electoral role of Delhi. His name was also deleted from electoral rolls of Punjab where he had been elected to Rajya Sabha earlier, officials said.
The Delhi election office had said that electoral rolls are added, deleted and modified using Forms 6, 7 and 8 respectively. Electoral Registration Officers are responsible for processing these applications in line with the relevant legislation.
The procedure is under the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and instructions given by Election Commission of India.
The clarification comes with increasing scrutiny over electoral rolls in the capital as SIR exercise is on. The nomination of Raghav Chadha in the electoral roll of Rajinder Nagar had raised doubt about the procedure and timing of the registration.
The Delhi poll body, however, said his application was cleared under the application approval mechanism and as per verification and procedure.
The development has come at a time of growing political attention on the electoral roll revision issue as the Election Commission keeps working on electoral roll revision and information verification exercise in the national capital.