After the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) questioned the addition of Raghav Chadha's name to the Delhi voter list, the Election Commission issued a clarification saying that the BJP Rajya Sabha MP had filed Form-6 on August 26 for inclusion in the Rajinder Nagar electoral roll, and his application was approved on September 2 after due procedure.
The clarification came after the AAP questioned how the BJP MP's name was added when the voter list for the concerned polling part had already shown 746 voters. The party had also sought an explanation from the Election Commission on the process followed for adding the name.
EC explains how Raghav Chadha's name was added
"As per the record available, Raghav Chadha, MP (Rajya Sabha), has applied for inclusion of his name in Form-6 in AC-39 (Rajinder Nagar) on August 26, 2026, vide application No. 05039D6N2608261200000," the office of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer said.
The poll body said that the application was approved by the Electoral Registration Officer after completion of the mandatory seven-day notice period. "The Form was approved by the Electoral Registration Officer of the AC-39 (Rajinder Nagar) after completion of the mandatory notice period of 7 days, on September 2, 2026, after following due procedure as laid down by the Election Commission of India," it said.
AAP rejects EC's explanation
However, the AAP rejected the Election Commission's explanation, alleging that Chadha's name had been added to the electoral roll 'through the back door' and questioning whether political pressure was involved.
AAP national media-in-charge Anurag Dhanda demanded that Chadha's Form 6 be made public and that citizens be given an opportunity to file objections against his inclusion, as is allowed in the case of any ordinary elector. In a post on X, Dhanda said, "No record of form 6 submission by Raghav Chadha on EC website or any of the records made public. Isn't it mandatory to list all form 6 applications and publish it in form 9 to invite any objections on the application? I challange @CeodelhiOffice and @ECISVEEP to make the form 6 date and record of Raghav Chadha public. Let people see how you include votes in voter list from back door. What is there to hide? "
The CEO's office said that under Election Commission provisions, any eligible person whose name is not on the electoral roll can apply for inclusion by submitting Form 6 along with the prescribed supporting documents.
"The ECI guidelines state that the final electoral roll is published after the revision period and disposal of claims and objections. However, once a Form-6 application is approved, the elector’s name begins reflecting in the database immediately, in continuation of the last serial number of the draft roll," it said.
It also cited the EC's May 14 guidelines for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which state that names added during the SIR period would be assigned serial numbers continuing from the last entry in the draft electoral roll.
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