India launches three-month voter registration overhaul in 12 states, raising concerns about potential disenfranchisment of legitimate voters.
NEW DELHI: India has launched a massive revision of its voter rolls, expanding an exercise that activists warn could fuel disenfranchisement in the world’s largest democracy.
The three-month Special Intensive Revision began Tuesday in 12 states and territories, many scheduled to hold local elections next year.
Tens of thousands of election officials and nearly half a million volunteers will conduct door-to-door visits to help residents complete voter enumeration forms.
Election Commission of India chief Gyanesh Kumar said officials “will help the elector fill the enumeration form, collect it and submit it”.
Earlier this year, a similar revision in Bihar state led to the exclusion of approximately 6.5 million names ahead of state elections beginning November 6.
The ECI stated the exclusions were necessary to prevent the inclusion of “foreign illegal immigrants”.
Members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party have long claimed undocumented Muslim migrants from Bangladesh have fraudulently registered as voters.
Critics argue stringent documentation requirements could wrongly remove large numbers of Indian citizens from the rolls.
Activists have reported cases of living voters declared dead and entire families being struck off draft lists.
India’s Supreme Court eased some concerns in August by ruling that biometric-linked Aadhaar identity cards could be accepted as valid documentation.
The current revision covers major states including Uttar Pradesh with about 199 million people, West Bengal with 91 million, Tamil Nadu with 72 million, and Kerala with 33 million.
Several rights groups and opposition parties have filed legal challenges against the exercise.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, whose party filed its opposition in the Supreme Court on Monday, called the exercise a “mere trick to delete the names of genuine voters”.
He told opposition parties that “voting is the body and soul of democracy, and that right is facing a threat”.
The final electoral roll is expected to be released on February 7, 2026. – AFP
