Punjab SIR Row: After Raghav Chadha, Congress MP Dharamvira Gandhi's Name Missing From Draft Roll

The controversy over Punjab's draft electoral rolls has intensified after Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi said his name and those of several members of his family were missing during the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Gandhi, a two-time Congress MP from Patiala, said his name was later included in the electoral roll after authorities attributed its initial absence to a technical issue.

The development came shortly after BJP MP Raghav Chadha raised concerns over his status in the draft electoral rolls, saying his name had been marked as “shifted” despite being registered as a voter in Mohali. Chadha alleged that the electoral process was being misused for political vendetta.

Speaking about his case, Gandhi said his family had lived at the same address for more than two decades and that it had remained his permanent address in official records.

“I have been residing at this address since around 2000. I have contested three Lok Sabha elections and won two of them from this very house, which has been my permanent address in all official records. Despite this, my name, along with those of my family members, is missing from the electoral roll,” Gandhi said, according to PTI.

According to details related to the SIR process, Gandhi's name was initially absent from the voter list but was subsequently restored through the prescribed procedure.

The MP, however, said he had not received any personal notice regarding the issue. He claimed that election officials were aware of his status as a sitting MP and that greater caution should have been exercised before taking action concerning his entry in the electoral rolls.

Gandhi said notices had been issued to his wife, son, daughter and daughter-in-law. According to him, the relevant data concerning his family members had not yet been mapped during the revision process.

Copies of the notices issued to his wife and other family members are available, he said.

The SIR Controversy

The issue involving Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi comes a day after Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha said his name had been deleted from Punjab's draft electoral roll and marked as “permanently shifted”, adding to the growing controversy surrounding the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

As Outlook India reported on September 3, an estimated 13.37 crore names have been deleted from draft electoral rolls across the country during the revision exercise over the past year. The scale of the deletions has emerged as a major political flashpoint, with opposition parties raising concerns over its impact on eligible voters.

Draft electoral rolls published in Delhi and Maharashtra recorded deletions of 32.8% and 21.1%, respectively, according to data released by the Chief Electoral Officers of the two states.

Chadha alleged political vendetta over his deletion, saying his voter ID was registered in Mohali and that his name had nevertheless been classified as shifted. He also cited the Election Commission's SIR guidelines, arguing that public representatives whose names were flagged in the electoral database were required to be included in the draft electoral rolls.

The AAP and a senior Punjab government official, however, rejected Chadha's allegation, saying the SIR was an Election Commission exercise and that the state government had no role in deciding which names were retained or deleted from electoral rolls.