In a recent article in The Indian Express, Yogendra Yadav and I defended the view that the SIR process is leading to mass disenfranchisement - at least 12 cr eligible voters (12% of India's estimated adult population) are likely to be left out of the final SIR lists. Confusion persists, however, on how this is happening.
Some critics of SIR argue that pre-SIR lists were fairly inclusive, but then, 13 cr persons were deleted. This claim appears to be consistent with the fact that pre-SIR lists more or less tally with adult-population estimates, state-wise. For all major states together, pre-SIR lists add up to 99% of the corresponding adult population (see chart). What about the deletions?
