The explosive revelations about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) have triggered alarm over the future of India’s electoral integrity. An Indian Express investigation revealed that two Election Commissioners — Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu — formally objected 14 times in 10 months to unilateral decisions by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, including mass voter deletions and changes to registration forms.

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What began as a routine cleanup of electoral rolls has morphed into a bureaucratic dragnet. In Delhi, more than 54.6% of voters have either been struck off or served notices to prove their legitimacy. Out of 1.45 crore registered voters, nearly 80 lakh are under scrutiny. Of these, 47.5 lakh have been marked for deletion under categories like Absent, Shifted, Dead, or Duplicate, while another 33.13 lakh face technical flags.

Critics argue that when populations grow but rolls contract, and when nine out of ten deletions prove erroneous upon review, democracy itself is imperilled. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has yet to provide a convincing rationale for forcing millions into an administrative straitjacket just weeks before elections.

The right to vote is the bedrock of democracy. Unless the SIR process is rethought — or abandoned — India risks disenfranchising millions of valid voters and undermining the credibility of its electoral system.