More than 9.1 million names have been removed from the electoral register in West Bengal ahead of state elections starting Thursday, according to a report. The mass deletion, which represents over 10% of the electorate, has sparked accusations of targeting religious minorities.
The electoral roll revision, known as Special Intensive Revision (SIR), has been carried out at unprecedented speed before the West Bengal state elections, which begin on Thursday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hopes to seize power from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has ruled the state for 15 years.
The Modi government has justified the revision as a measure to prevent 'infiltrators' – a term largely understood to refer to illegal Muslim Bangladeshi immigrants – from voting. Home Minister Amit Shah described the exercise as 'purifying' the electoral roll, according to a report.
However, experts and organisations have said that Muslims and other religious minorities have been disproportionately expunged from the rolls. In some Muslim-majority constituencies, almost half the voters have been deleted, including individuals who possess documents proving Indian citizenship. About 2.7 million people have challenged their expulsions but were still removed, according to a report.
One individual case illustrates the process. Jaber Ali, a 36-year-old from Sherpur village, was among those deleted despite being an official tasked with collecting documents for the revision, according to a report.