Millions in India disenfranchised ahead of critical state election as government seeks to ‘cleanse’ electoral roll | India

Ali said there was now “panic” in the town as lifelong Indian citizens feared being treated as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and pushed out of the country. He believes the deletions in his area followed a pattern. “All that has been removed here are Muslims,” ​​he said. “People feel they are being targeted and stripped of their right to vote.”

Critics have legally challenged SIR as unconstitutional, describing it as an attempt to rig and manipulate the electoral system to favor the BJP. Political opposition and legal experts said the electoral commission, which oversees the exercise, can no longer be considered an independent and neutral body.

SY Quraishi, the former Election Commissioner of India, was among those who raised concerns about the justification and processes of SIR, both in West Bengal and other states, saying it raised serious questions about the role of the Election Commission.

“I feel very uncomfortable and reluctant to comment on my successor, but as a citizen I see what is happening and I have to speak out,” he said. “The SIR is completely unnecessary, it is designed to harass. Administratively it is a disaster and the intentions are not noble.

He added: “It took us 30 years to achieve 99% accuracy in the rolls. They expect to exceed that in three months. Why this frantic rush when the main goal is accuracy?”

Quraishi was among those who expressed concern over the Election Commission’s decision to deploy a new AI-backed algorithm in West Bengal to flag so-called “logical inconsistencies” in voter data, which has led to millions of Bengalis having to prove their citizenship – including India’s Nobel laureate Amartya Sen – with many ending up on the list of 2.7 million blackouts.

Experts say the algorithm failed to take into account important cultural issues, including that there is no standard form for transcribing Bengali names into English script, and that Bengali surnames have been modified over generations, leading to minor spelling discrepancies between family documents. It also flagged parents under 16 and more than five siblings as a “logical contradiction”, even though both were common in older generations.

Quraishi said that in his time the election commission was highly aware and sensitive to this. “If software is used to wipe out voters based on these minor inconsistencies, then it’s a weapon against civil rights and not fit for purpose,” he said.

Many of those who have devoted their lives to serving the Indian state are among those suddenly dispossessed. Sixty-two-year-old Senarul Haque, who retired from India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force two years ago after 35 years of service, found his name missing from the electoral roll, even as his wife and two sons remained listed.

“This is deeply disappointing. I have served the country in some of the most difficult areas. When my name was missing from the electoral roll, I submitted my documents properly, and still my name is missing,” Haque said.

“I’ve been on electoral duty all over the country. Now I’m being denied the right to vote, and no one is accountable. It feels like a mockery of the system. How can so many people be struck off the rolls just before an election?” I added.

While tribunals are underway for voters to challenge the deletion of their votes, only a small number have a place before voting begins in the state elections held on Thursday. Himani Roy, 55, a government school teacher in Howrah district, is among those who did not have her case heard in time, meaning she will not be allowed to vote for the first time in her life. Ironically, her name is still a voting officer.

“I have met the officials concerned and they have no clear answer as to why my name is missing,” said Roy. “When we talk about democratic backsliding, this is what it looks like. These are very bad days for democracy and our nation’s independent institutions.”

More than a dozen national and state BJP spokespersons declined to comment on the allegations when contacted by the Guardian.

However, in previous remarks, BJP Home Minister Amit Shah described SIR in states like West Bengal as “not only necessary for the country’s security” but also essential to “prevent infiltration to protect the country’s democratic system from contamination”.

Parakala Prabhakar, an Indian economist and writer, emphasized that sections of citizens being unilaterally removed from the electoral roll have serious implications that go far beyond just state elections.

“Once completed, it will create two classes of Indians: those who are allowed full participation in political society and the political process – and those who are excluded,” Prabhakar said. “It’s about killing the citizenship of minorities. It’s a bloodless political genocide.”