A political row has erupted over the deletion of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha’s name from Punjab’s draft electoral rolls, with the ruling AAP accusing him of attempting to get his voter registration transferred to Delhi through a “backdated process” and Chadha alleging that the AAP government had used the electoral revision process to target him.Chadha, a former AAP Rajya Sabha member from Punjab who joined the BJP earlier this year, said his vote was registered in Mohali. However, his name had been classified as “shifted” in the draft electoral rolls prepared during the special intensive revision (SIR).The disagreement between AAP and Chadha is significant because if the MP is found by the SIR as not being registered in either Delhi or Mohali, meaning that he’s not a voter, then the possibility of Chadha losing his Rajya Sabha membership is high.Terming it political vendetta, he alleged that the classification was not a mere clerical error. Questioning how his name came to be marked as “permanently shifted”, Chadha said government officials were involved in marking and verifying the classification.AAP has rejected the allegations, saying the SIR was being conducted by the Election Commission and not the state government. An AAP spokesperson said the state had no role in deciding whose name was included or deleted from the electoral roll.Chadha, while talking to The Tribune, referred to Paragraph 4(d) of the Election Commission’s detailed SIR guidelines, which provides for a “protected list” of public representatives and certain other prominent persons whose names had earlier been flagged in the electoral database. “In any case, the phase of claims and objections is on, and the wrongful classification will be rectified,” he said.The provision states that names of members of the judiciary, public representatives, holders of declared offices and personalities from various fields, including art, culture, journalism, sports and public services are to be included in the draft electoral rolls so that necessary documents can be collected during the claims and objections period.“As a sitting MP from Punjab, my name, if flagged, should have been included in the draft rolls in accordance with the provision,” he said.But an official spokesperson of AAP claimed that Chadha had been living in Delhi and he no longer resided in Punjab, maintaining or shifting his voter registration was his own responsibility.AAP further alleged that it had received information from EC sources that Chadha was trying to get his vote registered in Rajinder Nagar, Delhi, through a “backdated process”. The party said any such exercise, if established, should be investigated and the facts made public. “If the BJP or anyone else has facilitated any such backdated entry, we will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion and expose the truth,” the spokesperson said.