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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Shaikh Azizur Rahman

’How do you explain the deletion of 130 million names?’ Why Indian voters are on the streets

Protesters shout and raise flags as police hold back women at an India bloc rally
Protesters in Jammu and Kashmir call for the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar. Photograph: Faisal Khan/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Born into a small village in West Bengal, Shahida Fakir had always taken her vote for granted. That was, until it was suddenly taken away. She presented officials with her Indian birth certificate and family land documents from the village going back to 1962.

Both her parents had been on the electoral roll going back decades, so she showed proof of that too. But when the final revised voter list came out in April, Fakir was not on it.

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