NEW DELHI (AP) – On Monday, India's opposition parties organized a protest demanding the rollback of a contentious revision of the voter list in Bihar, one of the country’s poorest states, ahead of key elections scheduled for November. The opposition has expressed concerns that the revision could result in widespread voter disenfranchisement. Hundreds of lawmakers and supporters initiated the protest from Parliament but were prevented by police from marching towards the Election Commission office in New Delhi. Some opposition legislators, including Rahul Gandhi, were briefly detained by police during the demonstration.
The opposition parties have accused the Election Commission of India of hurrying through a substantial electoral roll revision affecting nearly 80 million voters in Bihar. They argue that the strict documentation requirements for citizens could lead to numerous individuals being unable to vote. Among the required documents are birth certificates, passports, and matriculation records, which critics contend are often difficult to obtain in Bihar, where the literacy rate is considerably low. Opposition leaders have raised alarms that such requirements could disproportionately affect vulnerable groups, particularly minorities including Muslims, ultimately preventing them from participating in the electoral process.
Notably, India lacks a unique national identity card system. The widely used biometric-linked identity card, known as “Aadhaar,” is not accepted by the Election Commission as valid proof for the voter roll revision. The commission has refuted the opposition's claims, asserting that it has taken measures to ensure no eligible voter is left disenfranchised. They have characterized the ongoing electoral roll revision as a standard update intended to ensure accuracy and to avoid the inclusion of names of foreign illegal immigrants.
According to the Election Commission, approximately 49.6 million voters whose names were included in a previous revision in 2003 are exempt from submitting additional documentation. However, this still leaves nearly 30 million other voters at risk of being disenfranchised. The commission plans to replicate a similar voter roll revision nationwide, impacting India's population of 1.4 billion.
Bihar plays a significant role in India's electoral landscape, historically as a battleground state where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has only governed as part of a coalition. The outcomes of the elections in Bihar could substantially sway the balance of power in the Indian Parliament, where Modi's government relies on coalition partners, including regional parties from Bihar. The BJP has supported the voter roll revision, emphasizing the necessity to update the lists by removing names of deceased individuals or those who have relocated to other states. Additionally, the BJP claims that the revision is crucial to identify and exclude undocumented Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh who have fraudulently registered on electoral rolls.
The ongoing controversy has led critics and opposition leaders to draw parallels with a disputed citizenship list in Assam in 2019, which left nearly two million people vulnerable to statelessness. Many omitted from the final list in Assam were Muslims, who have been labeled as “foreigners” and some have faced prolonged detentions. In a related context, Rahul Gandhi recently made public an analysis from Karnataka state, alleging nearly 100,000 votes cast in the upcoming 2024 general election would be fraudulent, although the Election Commission dismissed his assertions.
In a statement on social media platform X, Rahul Gandhi highlighted that “a clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections,” reiterating the need for transparency in the electoral process amid the contentious atmosphere surrounding the voter list revision in Bihar.
