NEW DELHI: Amid a massive row over the sudden inclusion of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha’s name in Delhi’s electoral rolls, days after it was removed from the Punjab draft voter list, the poll body has now clarified the curious case. The office of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said Chadha filed Form 6 to get his name added to the voter list of Rajinder Nagar constituency on August 26. The application was approved on September 2 after “due procedure”, the poll body said.
At the centre of the controversy is a pertinent question. How was Chadha’s name shown on the Delhi voter list after the draft rolls had been published and before the publication of the final list, which is supposed to happen on November 4?
The AAP has gone hammer and tongs at the Election Commission, alleging that Chadha’s name was added to Delhi’s voter list through the “backdoor” after it was deleted from the Punjab draft electoral roll amid the ongoing SIR exercise.
Due to the SIR exercise to weed out ineligible voters, Delhi’s electoral roll was frozen between June 16 and August 31. The draft list was published on August 31. It did not include Chadha’s name.
Chadha’s name also did not appear in the draft Punjab electoral roll, which was published on August 13. The entry beside his name shows “permanently shifted”, as per Election Commission records. Chadha had then accused the AAP government in Punjab of pursuing “politics of revenge”.
As per the Representation of the People Act, a candidate must be registered as an elector in any parliamentary constituency to be eligible to be a Rajya Sabha MP.
Now, the sudden addition of his name to Delhi’s electoral rolls has triggered a controversy.
The Delhi CEO’s office said the Rajya Sabha MP applied for inclusion of his name in Rajinder Nagar on August 26 by filing Form 6. Form 6 is used for new voter registrations.
“The application, bearing number U05039D6N2608261200000, was approved by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) after completion of the mandatory seven-day notice period,” the statement said.
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