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ISLAMABAD: Voting began on Thursday in two of India&rsquo;s most politically important opposition-held states, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. But Bengal&rsquo;s first phase was overshadowed by claims that voter-roll deletions disproportionately hit Muslims and other marginalized groups, according to AP. In West Bengal, polling opened for 152 of the state&rsquo;s 294 assembly seats, while Tamil Nadu voted in a single phase for all 234 seats. Results in both states are due on May 4. BJP targets opposition strongholdsPrime Minister Narendra Modi&rsquo;s BJP is trying to break into both opposition strongholds. In West Bengal, it is seeking to unseat Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee&rsquo;s Trinamool Congress, which won 213 seats in the 2021 election. In Tamil Nadu, the BJP remains a junior ally of the strongest regional party, AIADMK and has historically struggled to make significant gains. Voter roll purge under scrutinyIn Bengal, however, the most serious issue hanging over the vote is not just campaign rhetoric, but who has been allowed to vote at all. About 9 million names were removed from West Bengal&rsquo;s electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision, roughly 12% of the electorate. The Election Commission has said the exercise was meant to remove duplicate, deceased or otherwise ineligible voters, according to AP and other reports. Critics, however, say it has instead become a blunt instrument of disenfranchisement. Murshidabad fallout deepens alarmThe Wire reported from Murshidabad that the fallout extends far beyond the ballot box. Migrant laborers whose names were deleted are now trapped in what the report described as a no-man&rsquo;s land. Some workers said employers were demanding proof that they had voted in order to show they were not &ldquo;Bangladeshi.&rdquo; In border districts and Muslim-majority belts, the stigma attached to deletion has turned an administrative exercise into a threat to livelihood, dignity and belonging. The pattern has raised wider alarm because the exclusions appear to fall disproportionately on vulnerable communities. A data analysis by The Wire said Muslim-heavy constituencies, especially in the border belt, were disproportionately pushed into harsher scrutiny channels. AP also reported that opposition leaders accused the BJP of using the purge to suppress minority and dissenting votes. Security was tightened across Bengal, including at &ldquo;supersensitive&rdquo; polling stations and along the Bangladesh border. But the central question surrounding this election is not only whether voting will be peaceful. It is whether an election can be called fully democratic when millions arrived on polling day, already erased from the rolls.

India

Voting began in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, but Bengal’s first phase was overshadowed by claims that voter-roll deletions disproportionately affected Muslims and other marginalized groups, raising disenfranchisement concerns.

Elections in India begin amid voter purge controversy

ISLAMABAD: The opposition in India has criticized the country&#39;s Election Commission for serving notices to prominent citizens, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and international cricketer Mohammed Shami, and termed it &ldquo;a deliberate BJP [ruling Bharatiya Janata Party] tactic.&rdquo; Indian National Congress (INC) national spokesperson Dr Shama Mohamed, in a post on X on Tuesday, wrote: &ldquo;We have already seen that even prominent citizens like Amartya Sen, former Navy Admiral Arun Prakash, and cricketer Mohammed Shami are missing from the lists.&rdquo;<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 2;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2011104016911266281&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fsections%2F&sessionId=8ed77d2d00081bb47726d566733c5b6575426bfd&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 672px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>She said, &ldquo;If such well-known individuals can be excluded, imagine what will happen to ordinary citizens.&rdquo; &lsquo;Deliberate BJP tactic&rsquo;&ldquo;This is happening across Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, everywhere,&rdquo; the INC spokesperson asserted.&nbsp;&nbsp;She said, &ldquo;People who are away from home or unable to fill forms in time are being disenfranchised.&rdquo; &ldquo;This is a deliberate BJP tactic to exclude voters who do not support them.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;The Election Commission and ED have become two arms of the BJP,&rdquo; she said. &lsquo;Columns left blank&rsquo;&nbsp;As per the Election Commission&rsquo;s notification, such cases automatically call for a hearing, and the individuals were summoned along with several other similarly placed electors, Indian media had earlier reported &ldquo;The Enumeration Form clearly shows that the linkage columns have been left blank by the elector,&rdquo; the state CEO&rsquo;s office had said in a post on X.

Indian National Congress spokesperson says, ‘This is a deliberate BJP tactic to exclude voters who do not support them; the Election Commission and ED have become two arms of the BJP.’

Articles tagged with "SIR"

Elections in India begin amid voter purge controversy

India’s Congress terms voter registration notices to Amartya Sen, Shami ‘deliberate’