Across India, opposition parties, students and farmers have taken to the streets to protest a sweeping revision of the electoral rolls that has removed some 130 million names. The move, called the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the Election Commission of India (ECI), requires voters to prove their eligibility through old documents, a process that many fear will lead to widespread exclusion.
Protesters demand the restoration of the old voter lists and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. They argue that the SIR is a continuation of the government’s broader citizenship agenda, which began with the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that fast‑tracks citizenship for persecuted members of six religious communities from three Muslim‑majority neighbours, while excluding Muslims.
In 2019, the CAA was paired with a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) that would require every citizen to prove their status. The NRC, announced by Home Minister Amit Shah, was seen as a tool that could potentially exclude millions who could not produce old documents. Muslim women staged a sit‑in at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi to protest the discriminatory nature of the CAA and the threat of the NRC.
Now, six years later, the SIR’s document‑proof requirement echoes the same exclusionary logic. Protesters point out that the same groups who warned against the NRC are now demanding protection from the SIR. “We are not just fighting for our names on the roll; we are fighting for our right to be recognized as citizens,” one demonstrator said.
The opposition’s call for the CEC’s resignation has been criticized as hypocritical, as it ignores the underlying citizenship law that sparked the 2019 protests. Some of the current demonstrators had previously opposed the 2019 sit‑ins, raising questions about whether the new movement will challenge the discrimination that Muslims warned about or simply seek protection for those now caught in the same machinery.
As the protests continue, the government’s stance remains that the SIR is a necessary step to ensure electoral integrity. However, critics argue that it is a political tool to marginalize vulnerable populations, echoing the fears that led to the Shaheen Bagh sit‑in.
Source: Al Jazeera
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