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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Aakash Hassan in Delhi

Millions in India stripped of vote before critical state election, as government seeks to ‘purify’ electoral roll

People walk through a road decorated with the flags of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress party ahead of the West Bengal state elections.
People walk through a road decorated with the flags of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress party ahead of the West Bengal state elections. Photograph: Bikas Das/AP

Millions of people in the Indian state of West Bengal have been stripped of their vote ahead of a critical state election this week, after a controversial electoral revision described by critics as a “bloodless political genocide” and mass disenfranchisement of minorities.

In West Bengal, a total of 9.1 million names have been deleted from the register, more than 10% of the electorate. While many were dead or duplicates, about 2.7 million people have challenged their expulsions, but still been removed.

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