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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Shaikh Azizur Rahman in West Bengal

India’s electoral roll revision threatens democracy and Muslims, say critics

Rejina Mal siting outside, with her two children, holds a phone with an image of her husband.
Rejina Mal shows an image of her husband, Jahir, who took his life after the start of the special intensive revision in West Bengal. Photograph: Shaikh Azizur Rahman/The Guardian

India’s political opposition has warned that democracy is under threat amid a controversial exercise to revise the voter register across the country, which critics say will disenfranchise minority voters and entrench the power of the ruling Narendra Modi government.

An debate erupted in India’s parliament last week over the special intensive revision (SIR) process, which is taking place in nine states and three union territories, in one of the biggest revisions of the country’s electoral roll in decades.

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