Political storm over Raghav Bhaiyanti’s vote cut in Punjab. The political atmosphere is in a state of flux over the Special Revision (SIR) draft of the voters’ list published ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab. The name of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP and former AAP leader Raghav Bhaiyanti has been removed from the SIR draft list. Raghav Bhaiyanti has accused the ruling AAP government in Punjab of being removed, calling it a ‘political vendetta’. Raghav Bhaiyanti has alleged that he is an MP from Punjab but his voter ID is registered in Mohali. But in the published draft voter list, his name has been removed as ‘migrated’. Sharing a long post on social media platform ‘X’, he said that the AAP leadership has been very angry ever since he left the corrupt Aam Aadmi Party. He has strongly stated that the Punjab government is also targeting other MPs who have left the party and joined the BJP by using machinery.
Deadly allegations on the Punjab administration:
Raising questions about administrative abuse, Raghav Bhaiyya said that Punjab government officials are employed in all positions, from grassroots BLOs to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). These officials know very well that the AAP government controls their posting and career after election duty. Such malicious acts are being done under political pressure from the government. However, fortunately, since this is just a draft list, it can be improved through the ‘claims and objections’ filing process, he said. The final voter list will be published next October and he clarified that he is taking legal action as per the Election Commission’s SIR guidelines. He also said that the AAP may be running the government in Punjab, but the voter list of Punjab is not anyone’s personal property.
AAP and administration’s response:
On the other hand, the Punjab government and AAP have denied all these allegations of Raghav Bhandari. The party has said that the Voter List Rectification (SIR) is an independent process which is directly conducted by the Election Commission of India, there is no interference from the state government in it. The party has also alleged that Raghav Bhandari has been living in Delhi for a long time and is manipulating his voter registration instead of staying in Punjab.
