India‘s opposition parties held a protest demanding the rollback of a revision of the voter list in the eastern state of Bihar, where elections are scheduled for its legislature in November. Hundreds of lawmakers and supporters began Monday’s protest from parliament and were confronted by police who stopped them from marching towards the Election Commission office in the capital, New Delhi. Police briefly detained dozens of lawmakers, including the leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi.
“This fight is not political but for saving the constitution,” Gandhi, who is an MP from the Indian National Congress party, told reporters after being detained. “The truth is before the entire country,” he added. Gandhi had previously stated that the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar is an “institutionalised chori [theft] to deny the poor their right to vote”.
The revision affecting nearly 80 million voters involves strict documentation requirements from citizens, triggering concerns it could lead to the exclusion of vulnerable groups, especially those who are unable to produce the paperwork required to prove their citizenship. Some of the documents required include birth certificates, passports, and matriculation records, which critics argue are hard to come by in Bihar, where the literacy rate is among the lowest in India.
The opposition accuses the Election Commission of rushing through a mammoth electoral roll revision in Bihar, saying the exercise could render vast numbers of citizens unable to vote. The exercise has sparked fears of voter disenfranchisement, particularly among minorities, including Muslims. Critics have also warned that the exercise is similar to that of a 2019 citizenship list in eastern India’s Assam state, which left nearly 2 million people at risk of statelessness.
The Election Commission has denied the voter disenfranchisement allegations and promised to ensure that no eligible voter is “left behind”. It has also said the “intensive revision” is a routine update needed to avoid the “inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants”. According to the commission, 49.6 million voters whose names were included in a similar exercise in 2003 are not required to submit any further documents. However, this still leaves almost 30 million other voters potentially vulnerable.
The BJP has backed the revision, saying it is necessary to update new voters and delete the names of those who have either died or moved to other states. However, the party’s motives have been questioned, with some arguing that the exercise is aimed at disenfranchising certain groups of voters. Bihar is a crucial election battleground where the BJP has only ever governed in a coalition, and election results there could likely impact the balance of power in India’s Parliament.