Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar, 81, who is survived by his wife Kiran, began his career in the Indian Railways and was drawn into academia after pursuing an MBA degree from the Faculty of Management Studies Delhi University. He then went on to complete his PhD from the Louisiana State University following which he joined the Indian Institute of Ahmedabad as a Professor in the Organisational Behaviour Area in 1985.

He retired in November 2006.

But what brought and kept him in public life was his activism for improving democracy and governance in the country.

In 1999, with a few of his IIMA colleagues, which included Tirlochan Shastry, 14 years his junior, he founded the ADR, which has since played a critical role in enhancing transparency in Indian elections for over two and a half decades. The ADR has won several notable cases at the Supreme Court including the one which paved for the scrapping of the Electoral Bonds scheme. More recently, it is the lead petitioners in the challenge to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in Bihar.

A fellow petitioner in the Dr Manoj Kumar Jha, Rajya Sabha member with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) expressed his strong sentiments at the demise of Prof. Chhokhar on ‘X’ (formerly twitter. He said, “He believed that democracy is not sustained by the noise of elections, but by their fairness, transparency, and accountability. He reminded us, time and again, that clean politics cannot emerge from tainted processes. His departure leaves behind a void, but also a legacy—an unfinished task that belongs now to all who care about democracy. We must also renew our pledge to the cause he lived for: that elections in India be not just contests of power, but rituals of trust.”

Cannot believe this news!!!
The passing of @JagdeepChhokar is not just the loss of a man; it is the silencing of a conscience that spoke relentlessly for the integrity of India’s democracy. As founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms, he forced the nation to look into… pic.twitter.com/Nv8IoKaxua

— Manoj Kumar Jha (@manojkjhadu) September 12, 2025

His body was donated for medical research. Acknowledging this, the official account of LHMC & Associated Hospitals, New Delhi, India, a premier Central Govt. Institute under Dte General Health Sevices & MoHFW stated, “Department of Anatomy humbly acknowledges the voluntary body donation of late Jagdeep Singh Chhokhar –founding member of the Association for Democratic Reforms & former Dean, IIMA. Our gratitude to Ms. Kiran Chhokhar and family for their invaluable contribution to advancing medical education.

Former Election Commissioner (EC), Election Commission of India, Ashok Lavasa, also expressed his sentiment on social media. “The loss of Prof Jagdeep Chhokhar is tragic. He spearheaded the Association of Democratic Reforms, which has rendered yeoman service in maintaining high standards of electoral democracy. People like him and ADR are vital for questioning authorities.”

Prof Chhokar was also a prolific writer and researcher. His research appeared in several international journals, such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Columbia Journal of World Business (now called the Journal of World Business), International Labour Review, Industrial Relations, Journal of Safety Research. He also contributed chapters to edited books and has written several teaching cases. His also wrote many columns and articles for leading media houses.

Chhokar has also taught in several countries including Australia, France, Japan, and the US. Since his retirement, he had also been associated with ‘Aajeevika’ Bureau for over a decade, working on internal migration related issues.

A little-known aspect was his love for birds. Prof Chhokar obtained a certificate in ornithology from the Bombay Natural History Society in 2001 and enjoyed the company of birds on the IIMA campus and wherever he travelled.

Related:

Election Commission seriously risks losing all credibility: senior advocate Sanjay Hegde

The Stolen Franchise: Why the Election Commission cannot escape accountability

The Erased Record: A constitutional challenge to the election commission’s 45-day data destruction mandate

The post Jagdeep Chhokar: A relentless pursuer of electoral and democratic reforms passes away appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It is ‘nine-eleven’ once again! A day pregnant with memories! Memories of violence and suffering; of hate and division. On the other hand, the day is also one of promise –of truth and non-violence; of justice and peace; of hope, for new beginnings, a new dawn! Our world today, is gripped with hate and violence; wars and conflicts; discrimination and division; prejudice and racism; corruption and communalism! One sees and witnesses this everywhere!

In neighbouring Nepal for one, it is a youth uprising against a corrupt regime; reminiscent of what happened in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh not too long ago! A warning for the corrupt and communal regime in India!

The plight of the Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, continues for almost a year now. Despite condemnation from most parts of the world, the Israeli regime has not stopped its brutal, violent, inhuman attacks on a beleaguered and starving people; the Israeli Government, even bombed Qatar yesterday.

Violence from Ukraine to Manipur continues unabated. The military-industrial complex is having a hay-day profiteering on the blood of innocent victims. All this and more, happening today, on ‘nine-eleven!’

There are memories of ‘nine-eleven’, today!

On this day, in 1906, Mahatma Gandhi launched his non-violent resistance campaign at a historic mass meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was the birth of a new movement ‘Satyagraha’ – the relentless pursuit of truth and justice.  Gandhi believed that they were non-negotiables; two-sides of a coin. More than three thousand Indians (both Hindus and Muslims) and others, gathered to support the beginning of civil obedience. Later with ‘Ahimsa’ (non-violence), ‘Satyagraha’ would ultimately become Gandhi’s twin-doctrine in belief and in practise. He used it effectively in his struggle against British colonial rule in India. Several world civil rights leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, later embraced this twin doctrine.

Sadly, we still do not learn from the past; racism, xenophobia, jingoism, exclusiveness, pseudo-nationalism, discrimination and divisiveness seem to have a stranglehold on nations and peoples across the globe. The emergence of the ‘extreme-right’ ideology wedded to fascism and fundamentalism is a growing cause of concern. Some want to ‘build walls and fences’ to keep people out. ‘Satyagraha’ was a movement to make people realise that all humans have dignity and are created equal in the image and likeness of God! Our responsibility is to help build bridges and not walls!

There are memories of ‘nine-eleven’, today! In 1893, on this day, at the very first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda gave a powerful and passionate speech. He made a fervent plea to end every form of sectarianism, bigotry, fanaticism and violence from this earth, by fostering the values enshrined in every religion. He spoke emphatically, saying, “I fervently hope that the bell which tolled this morning in honour of this convention, may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons, wending their way to the same goal”. Ironically enough, his clarion call does not seem to evoke any positive response from ‘hindutva’ fundamentalists today. They continue with their fascist and fanatic agenda, demonizing and attacking the minorities (particularly Muslims, Christians and Sikhs) of the country, in a very meticulous manner. 

There are memories of ‘nine-eleven’, today! What happened in the United States on this day in 2001, will always be etched in human memory!  Any and every form of violence, is non-acceptable and needs to be strongly condemned. No violent act can be justified, whatever the provocation! That unprecedented violence in the US is remembered and defined today by a date “9/11.” The very utterance of it evokes all kinds of emotions: from undiluted hatred to a feeling of utter helplessness, in the face of rabid terror; from inconsolable grief at the loss of a loved one to heated debates on imponderables. A visit to ‘ground zero’ brings back painful memories of the almost three thousand lives, which were lost in just one place. One is also reminded of the millions of people who suffer every day in Palestine and Yemen, Syria and Iraq, DR Congo and Sudan, Myanmar and Afghanistan, Venezuela and El Salvador and so many other parts of the world. The world should also never forget the terror attacks that were unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam and Cambodia, Iraq and Iran and other parts of the world! We need to stop all war and violence just now; we must close down the military-industrial complex and all nations need to de-nuclearize immediately!  Do we, as citizens of the world who genuinely desire sustainable peace, have the courage to say ‘never again’ this 9/11?

There are memories of ‘nine-eleven’, today! The great Gandhian, Vinoba Bhave, was born on this day in 1895! He is widely regarded as the spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi; a strong advocate for nonviolence and human rights. He initiated the ‘Bhoodan Movement’, a nonviolent land gift campaign to redistribute land to the poor. He translated the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ into the Marathi language. He is regarded as the National Teacher of India. He died in November 1982 and was posthumously awarded the ‘Bharat Ratna’.

Swami Agnivesh, the well-known social reformer died on this day in 2020. He was known for his work against bonded labour through the ‘Bonded Labour Liberation Front’, which he founded in 1981.He was also a founder of the World Council of Arya Samaj. He championed freedom of religion and the rights of workers. He was an unwavering voice for the excluded and the exploited and for the victims of injustice! If he was alive today, he would have taken on the Rajasthan Government on their draconian anti-conversion law and also the Gujarat Government for increasing the working hours of factory workers to 12 hours a day. Both laws were passed yesterday.

Significantly, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, also died on this day in 1948. He was a barrister and politician. He served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913, until the inception of Pakistan on 14 August 1947.

There are memories of ‘nine-eleven’, today! So much happening all over. We are in the midst of the ‘Season of Creation’ – yet parts of Punjab and Pakistan have been devastated by floods. Recent earthquakes in Afghanistan and Greece taking a toll on lives and livelihood, mean nothing to many, the rich and the powerful continue to destroy mother earth.  A terrible reality grips the lives and destinies of many people because of incompetent, autocratic, biased, violent and insensitive leaders everywhere. Marketing and manipulations greatly contribute to the fact that they are in power. These people use every trick in the book to keep people divided. Today (9/11) is surely about commemorations: the sad, tragic ones: a day of mourning! Nevertheless, it is also about new beginnings: of healing, building bridges, hope and resilience. Becoming pilgrims of hope!

As if on cue, the Catholic Liturgy of today provides us with a direction. In his letter to the Colossians St. Paul writes, “put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.”  In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus exhorts us, “to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Are we listening? Will we act? Memories of ‘nine-eleven’ today, must help us to do so!

(The author is a human rights, reconciliation and peace activist/writer)

Related:

Sorry, Stan!

Fifty years later..another Emergency rules

The temporariness and unpredictability of life

The post Memories of ‘Nine Eleven’ today appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Frankly—call it my inertia or whatever—I am not very familiar with Sainath’s recent writings, though from time to time I do read some of the very in-depth reports focusing on rural India on the excellent site he has been running for about a decade, People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), which is, for all practical purposes, a virtual database for learning or understanding anything about how people live and work in rural India.

Not that I wasn’t familiar with Sainath earlier. As part of a Times of India project, I remember reading his in-depth reports in the paper in the 1990s, after I joined in Ahmedabad in 1993. However, at that time, from what I can remember, he concentrated more on doing stories on rural India. The latest lecture, which he gave in Ahmedabad on September 6, 2025, for the first time familiarised me with his worldview on the increasing concentration of wealth in India—especially in the media—and how it is adversely impacting Indian democracy.

According to Sainath, this concentration of wealth began soon after Independence, when the Nehru government, in its bid to give a helping hand, gave away land to top media houses for peanuts at prime spots—for instance, in Nariman Point in Bombay (now Mumbai) and Bahadurshah Zafar Marg in Delhi. This, he said, turned them into real estate barons: building multi-storey buildings on these prime plots, the media houses rented out all other floors—except for one, kept for publishing the newspaper—helping them amass huge wealth.

Today, said Sainath, these media houses are also powerful real estate developers. He quoted an interview Vineet Jain, one of the owners of the Times of India group, gave to the New Yorker. Jain, according to him, said, “We are not in the newspaper business; we are in the advertising business.”

I immediately wondered if this was a sharp change from the view held in the mid-1990s, when, while addressing a few of us “seniors” of the Times of India, Vineet Jain’s elder brother, Samir Jain, had said we should remember the paper was in the business of news, emphasising that the Times of India was a family business and had no social agenda. Then he turned to the whiteboard behind him and wrote “liberal social agenda”, crossing it out. He turned to me to ask if I agreed, and out of curiosity, I asked him, “Sir, what about a liberal political agenda?” Visibly embarrassed, he quietly said, “That of course is there…”
Stating how media has changed over time with the rise of television and digital media, Sainath said the corporate hold over media has further solidified, with top tycoon Mukesh Ambani controlling nearly 40 percent of all media in India today, buying up stakes in one outlet after another. Also referring in passing to Gautam Adani’s takeover of NDTV, he pointed out that politicians too are now deeply involved in the media business—owning several TV channels across India, especially in the South.

Stating how this has adversely impacted media coverage, Sainath said, there are several reporters covering Bollywood and business, but was for poverty and rural India, which makes up to nearly two thirds of India, there is no reporter.

Giving figures worth trillions of rupees related to corporate ownership of Indian media, Sainath then discussed how, with the rise of digital media, there has been further concentration of wealth. According to him, four major corporate houses across the globe now control the strings of digital media—they have access to all the data uploaded to digital platforms. With the Government of India seeking to further control digital media by proposing new laws, an attack on press freedom seems imminent, he added.

Giving examples, Sainath said there was an attempt during the Covid period to control media after Reporters Without Borders ranked India 161st out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. A committee was formed, consisting mainly of government bureaucrats, to counter the index results. Only two journalists—including himself—were included. He said he joined on the condition that media freedom would be ensured. However, after finding his interventions too strong, the committee, which was headed by the Cabinet Secretary, eventually “disappeared”.

Now, said Sainath, there is a move to introduce a law that would impose a huge income tax on non-profit media houses. Pointing out that non-profit organisations like PARI, which he owns, and The Wire, are likely to suffer the most as a result of this move, he said the intention is to squeeze independent media outfits that have emerged over the last decade. This would take away ₹1 crore out of the approximately ₹2.5 crore that PARI raises annually to run its digital operations. He called upon the largely receptive audience—gathered at the invitation of top veteran Gujarat economist Prof. Indira Hirway—to financially support such independent media.

Later, talking informally, I asked Sainath a pointed question: would PARI, which is a digital media platform, have been possible 10 or 15 years ago, when internet penetration was low? He replied that he had started thinking of the PARI project 15 years ago. However, he admitted it was impossible for him to go into print or TV media, as it was too costly—one reason why he opted for the digital route.

I further asked him whether it was possible for ordinary journalists or people aspiring to share news to do so 15 years ago, as is now possible through blogging platforms and social media. To this, he replied that reaching out to readers is a huge issue. Algorithms control what gets propagated. If you’re willing to pay for services on platforms like X, for instance, you have a chance of reaching a wider audience—otherwise not.

Courtesy: CounterView

The post From news to real estate: P Sainath on how corporate power is undermining media freedom appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On September 3, 2025 the Maharashtra Cabinet approved a series of labour law amendments to increase the length of the working day, working hours without rest intervals, working hours per week, and limit of the overtime period. These amendments are based on recommendations of a central task force on labour reforms in order to “attract investment, expand industries, and create more employment opportunities.” The Maharashtra decision aligns with states such as Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Tripura – which have already enacted similar “reforms.”

The PUCL statement states that it must not be forgotten that the State is the biggest employer both in industries and establishments and is therefore required to ensure that workers are not exploited and their fundamental rights to a decent, safe and healthy work environment are protected. Yet it fails to do precisely that.

The State Government has made many lofty claims in support of these “reforms,” that are presumably in the interests of both labour as well as capital. The amendments will facilitate “protection of labour rights” while “improving the ease of doing business.” They will help “attract investment” as well as “increase employment opportunities in the state.”¹ But it is obvious that extending working hours, and removing smaller establishments from the purview of the law is meant to reduce or remove protections for workers, not to expand them, says the PUCL.

Today, even in the industrial sector in India, contractual workers are already working 12-hour shifts (without overtime). In effect, the amendments aim to legalise what is already happening in fact – depriving workers of the legal safeguards against super-exploitation. They seem to be a way of coercing a shrinking permanent workforce into this inhuman work regime. Besides, far from increasing employment, as is claimed, this step will reduce the organised work force to two thirds of its size by replacing 8-hour shifts with 12-hour ones. It is no surprise that the Karnataka State IT/ITeS

1 See the post by the Chief Minster of Maharashtra on the social media platform X:

मंत्रिमंडळ निर्णय : कामगार विभाग@Dev_Fadnavis#Maharashtra #मंत्रिमंडळनिर्णय #CabinetDecision #DevendraFadnavis pic.twitter.com/oTZrwmsHOp

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) September 3, 2025

Employees Union (KITU) labelled similar amendments proposed in Karnataka as “inhuman attempt to impose modern-day slavery” upon them.²

In line with the state cabinet’s decision, the proposed amendments will be carried out in the Factories Act of 1948 and the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017. In the Factories Act, the amendments proposed are: (a) Under Section 65, the workday shall be extended from the present 9 hours up to 12 hours; (b) Under Section 55, the rest period which was half an hour after the first five hours shall be made half an hour after six hours; (c) Under Section 56, the maximum number of working hours (spread over) in a day from 10.5 hours to 12 hours; (d) Under Section 65, the maximum number of hours of overtime in a quarter shall be increased from the present 115 to 144 hours (the original limit had been laid down as 75 hours). Under the Shops and Establishments Act the government intends to (a) increase working hours from 9 to 10 hours; (b) exclude establishments having less than 20 workers (the current number of 85 lakh establishments covered by this Act will be reduced to about 56,000).

While the State Labour Secretary has claimed that overtime work will be paid at double the rate of basic wages and allowances for every such increase in working hours, and that such overtime shall be subject to worker’s consent, these assurances have to be tested upon the actual language of the proposed amendments, particularly the fine print. While the decisions have yet to take the shape of a bill/ordinance for amending the Factories Act in the state, it is very likely that the amending bill/ordinance shall be on the lines of similar amendments made in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

In the Gujarat Ordinance No. 2 of 2025, issued on July 1, 2025, for instance, at Section 6, it is stated that Section 59(1) of the Factories Act shall be substituted by:

“Where a worker works in any factory:-

• for more than nine hours in any day or for more than forty-eight hours in any week, working for six days in any week;
• for more than ten hours in any day or for more than forty eight hours in any week, working for five days in any week;
• for more than eleven and a half hours in any day working for four days in any week, or works on paid holidays; he shall in respect of overtime work be entitled to wages at the rate of twice his ordinary rate of wages.”

In effect this means that overtime will not be calculated on a daily basis, but on a weekly basis, and a worker may work for eleven and a half hours each day for four days in a week without being eligible for overtime. This amounts to squeezing out the maximum from workers, and if they do not consent to overtime, subjecting them to artificial breaks in service jeopardising their permanent status.

The Rajasthan Bill contains another dangerous clause, namely 6(v):

“A worker may be required to work for overtime subject to the consent of such worker for such work except worker required to work for safety activities.”

 2 See the statement “12-hour work day in Karnataka’s IT Sector; Modern-Day Slavery in the Making: KITU Urges Employees to Unite and Resist” by the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union
https://kituhq.org/recent/6836e0f7e83575020247d3d1

Thus, a maintenance worker may be forced to work overtime all the year round. Given the current situation in the country of a large informal sector, underemployment, low wages, and unpaid work – workers will give “consent” out of fear or desperation, not choice. The provision of “consent” will be little more than legal subterfuge to conceal a new form of servitude.

It is a serious concern that while average working hours in wealthy countries have reduced by roughly half over the last 150 years – moving from over 50 hours per week to around 25-35 hours per week in recent times – India is reverting to colonial era standards by increasing working hours. In France, for instance, the standard full-time work week is 35 hours, with a daily cap of 10 hours; hours beyond the 35 hour threshold are considered overtime.

Finally, the PUCL statement states that the working class all over the world has fought a long battle to establish its right to an 8- hour working day so that workers may also have 8 hours of rest and 8 hours of personal time in which to achieve their full potential as citizens and as human beings. It must be recalled that the International Workers Day originates from the demand for an eight hour working day. Labour Day commemorates the sacrifice of union organisers – who were framed after the Haymarket protest on false charges of causing a riot – during a strike and demonstrations of Chicago workers in 1886. It has origins in the American Federation of Labour’s call: “eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s labour from and after May 1st, 1886”. After the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was founded in 1919, the first instrument ratified by it was the one regulating working hours. The second article limited working hours to 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week. India was one of the first signatories of the ILO’s “Hours of Work Convention” in 1921. India has itself witnessed valiant struggles of textile workers in the year 1911 to reduce working hours which finally under the pen of Dr B.R. Ambedkar were enshrined in the Factories Act, 1948 in the form of the 8-hour work day. The government’s decision in effect seeks to extinguish in one stroke the rights that working people have won with great sacrifice and struggle over more than a century.

It is widely acknowledged that long hours of work does not increase worker productivity, on the contrary, they drastically increase incidents of workplace accidents. Such long hours of work can only lead to sweat labour and hazardous work conditions. It will adversely impact health of workers by increasing exhaustion and stress, and increase their exposure to occupation-linked diseases and medical conditions. It is equally well known that workers in establishments with 12- hour shifts are rarely able to unionise. Longer working hours are discriminatory towards women workers because women bear a significant burden of care work in their homes. If the government was serious about increasing productivity, employment opportunities and welfare of workers, they would introduce progressive amendments to reduce working hours without any reduction in wages.

The PUCL Maharashtra has therefore demanded that the full texts of the proposed amendments be made available in the public domain in both in Marathi and English, and in all offices of the Labour Department so that trade unions and organisations can scrutinise the fine print of these so- called “reforms.” We demand that this decision to amend the Factories Act and the Shop and Establishments Act along the lines of other state governments be immediately revoked. Any proposed labour reforms in the state must only be considered after a series of consultations with trade unions and workers’ organisations, after which they ought to be opened to the broader public for suggestions and objections.

The PUCL, has also stated that the organization, in alliance with trade unions and informal sector workers organisations will campaign against the extension of work hours. It will also lobby with the Standing Committee in the Legislative Assembly and with opposition party MLAs to not accept these changes, and if required challenge these amendments in the courts. The statement was issued by Shiraz Bulsara Prabhu, President of PUCL, Maharashtra and   Sandhya Gokhale, General Secretary.

Related:

Beyond the Clock: Deconstructing Telangana’s Labour Law Reform and the Flawed Pursuit of Investment

ILO raises deep concern over recent trend of labour law reforms, asks PM to engage with states

New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) demands that governments retract changes in labour laws

Battle against dilution of labour laws to culminate in Supreme Court? 

The post Labour rights, health of workers hit in the name of “reform”: PUCL Maharashtra appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“An Election Commission bent on striking off names is bound to disenfranchise large sections of undocumented and vulnerable citizens,” he said, adding that this undermines trust in the fairness of elections.

Pointing out that the credibility of the Commission has historically been the backbone of India’s democratic resilience, he criticised the current system of appointing Election Commissioners, where the government retains decisive control, despite the Supreme Court recommending the inclusion of the Chief Justice of India in the process. “If the Commission is seen as partisan, the public will view elections as a fixed match,” Mr. Hegde warned.

The lecture traced the historical background to Citizenship and why the election commission’s doings first in Assam (over the exclusions in the National Register of Citizens –NRC and now the SIR) in Bihar are now spreading a fear and panic. The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process since June 2025 has faced criticism politically and even in the Courts, where judicial orders have had to be resorted to, to ensure a measure of accountability and inclusion.

Journalist Dinesh Amin Mattu described the current controversies surrounding electoral processes as “symptoms” of a deeper malaise within India’s election system. Speaking on electoral accountability, he noted that while debates once centred on EVMs and now on voter rolls, the underlying problem was the lack of structural reform. “The real issue is not just in Bihar or elsewhere; it is the larger disease that has crept into the system,” Mr. Mattu said.

In the panel discussion that followed, activists and civil society representatives voiced concerns over large-scale exclusions from electoral rolls in Bihar and the continuing uncertainty around the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. Participants flagged the notification of a “special intensive revision” of voter lists in Bihar as deeply flawed, noting that it seeks to weed out “illegal immigrants” — a mandate that goes beyond the Election Commission’s role. Concerns were also raised about privileging certain groups such as bureaucrats and sportspersons while subjecting ordinary citizens, especially minorities, women, and migrant workers, to scrutiny. Teesta Setalvad, co-convenor of Vote for Democracy (VFD) led the panel discussion with participation from Tara Rao from Edelu Karnataka.

A lively discussion on what lay in store for Indian democracy followed. Opposition parties from Bihar like the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Indian National Congress (INC) have over the past two and a half weeks been conducting a ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar. Meanwhile independent journalists and Digital Platforms, including You Tubers have been reporting on the ground on gross anomalies and errors in the manner in which the SIR that has –initially excluded a staggering 65 lakh persons—been conducted. The Supreme Court is currently still hearing the matter. On claims of ‘weeding out 3 lakh illegal immigrants’ and those who are ‘dead’ or ‘permanently shifted’, or have ‘duplicate voter cards’ in fact, marginalised communities –Dalits, Muslims and women from across the spectrum face the serious threat of being denied their constitutional right to Universal Adult Franchise under Article 326 of the Constitution.

Journalist Gauri Lankesh’s immediate family, Kavitha Lankesh and her neice Esha Lankesh were present on the occasion.

Related:

From Whispers to Shouts: How India’s voter roll irregularities are finally being heard

Rahul Gandhi alleges ‘Vote Chori’ in 2024 polls, accuses BJP-ECI nexus of systematic electoral fraud

Election Commission of India says voters’ names not to be removed without prior notice

The post Election Commission seriously risks losing all credibility: senior advocate Sanjay Hegde appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Following my blog “AAP’s rising star in Gujarat or guardian of patriarchy? The Gopal Italia dilemma”, I received an interesting comment from social activist Sudhir Kariyar, who works among tribal workers in Gujarat. The blog discusses how Italia, who won a by-election, wrote a letter to the Gujarat chief minister claiming that, on getting involved in love affair, young girls are being “lured” and “trapped” by wedding mafias across the state, urging the authorities to take legal action against this.

In his message, Kariyar said that the well-known Gujarati writer Pannalal Patel’s novel, written in 1931, “about the inter-caste love story between Patel and Barber caste individuals,” should be sent to Gopal Italia. He referred to a social media post by Dalit rights leader Raju Solanki, whom I have known for some time, which featured the cover of Patel’s novel Malela Jeev (Meeting Souls).

I looked up Raju Solanki’s timeline and found that he not only shared the novel’s cover but also posted a write-up on it. In his powerful piece—without once mentioning Italia by name—Solanki dismantles the AAP rising star’s contention that love marriages are an organized racket. Solanki titled his post Balela Jeev (Burnt Lives), a pun on Malela, symbolically referring to Italia.

Let me quote Solanki. He calls Malela Jeev a remarkable novel, recommending it to anyone who has not read it. The novel, he says, tells the “love story of Kanji, from the Patel caste, and Jeevi, from the Valand caste. Because of caste restrictions, they cannot marry. On the advice of his friend, Kanji convinces Jeevi to marry Dhulo, an ugly man from her village, so that she can remain close to him.”

Jeevi agrees and marries Dhulo. “A suspicious and violent man, Dhulo beats Jeevi daily. Kanji moves to the city for work, while Jeevi, weary of her life in the village, one day tries to commit suicide by mixing poison into bread. By mistake, Dhulo eats it and dies. Widowed Jeevi becomes the subject of public slander and eventually loses her sanity. Kanji returns from the city and takes her away with him. The story ends there.”

Providing historical context for when Pannalal Patel wrote the novel (1941), Solanki says, “it was still 14 years before the system of ganot (forced agricultural labor) would be abolished. The Patels were ganotiya (bonded labourers) of the landlords. In the Sarth Gujarati Dictionary, Kanbi was defined as slave and Valand as useless person. Thus, at that time, both Patels and Valands were considered Shudra castes of equal status, yet marriage between them was unthinkable. It still is today.”

Solanki quotes Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi, a well-known Gujarati litterateur, as telling the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad in 1934 that among Gujaratis “men outnumber women,” pointing out that in the Bombay region, which included Gujarat, for every 1,000 men there were 900 women; in India as a whole, there were 950; but as for the Patel community, “there were only 772 women for every 1,000 men.”

Adds Solanki, “Because of this shortage of women, Patels became a gender-challenged caste. Patel youths married tribal girls, and even fairs were held to bring brides from the Kurmi caste of far-off Bihar.” Yet, alluding to Italia’s opposition to love marriages, he adds, “When it comes to their own daughters marrying for love, they oppose it.”

He wonders, “In 1941, Pannalal Patel wrote a great novel on the theme of love marriage. Who today will write about the burnt lives who oppose love marriages?”

Praising Malela Jeev in an online lifestyle journal, one Snehal Parmar writes, as a “huge fan” of romantic Gujarati novels, that in Malela Jeev Pannalal Patel “illustrates the power of true love: it always lasts, always wins, and always has won. In contrast, false love quickly fades and cannot stand up to the power of true love.” Parmar adds, “The writer expresses the difficulty of finding and sustaining true love in today’s age.”

Indeed, Pannalal Nanalal Patel (1912–1989) is renowned for his seminal novels Malela Jeev (1941) and Manvini Bhavai (1947), having written over 61 novels and 26 short story collections. He is celebrated for using the local dialect and idioms of the Sabarkantha region, making his characters and settings feel vividly authentic.

Keen observers note that the timeless tragedy of Pannalal Patel’s Malela Jeev resonates with chilling relevance in today’s Gujarat, particularly in light of recent remarks by AAP MLA Gopal Italia concerning inter-caste love marriages. Italia’s controversial statements, questioning the social harmony of such unions and suggesting they sow discord within communities, starkly contradict the core message woven into Patel’s classic.

It is pointed out that Italia’s assertion that inter-caste love marriages lead to “social and community tensions” attempts to shift blame from the entrenched caste system and its proponents to the individuals daring to defy it. Malela Jeev, by contrast, powerfully refutes this notion by demonstrating that the tension does not arise from love itself, but from the judgmental, exclusionary responses of the community.

Courtesy: Counterview

The post Love, caste, politics: Pannalal Patel’s timeless novel challenges Italia’s claims appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This development is significant not only for its immediate regulatory effect but also because it continues a policy trajectory first crystallised in 2015 — privileging certain religious minorities from India’s neighbouring countries while excluding Muslims.

Key features of the 2025 Order

1. Nepal and Bhutan nationals: Citizens of Nepal and Bhutan are exempt from passport and visa requirements when entering by land or air across their borders. Exemptions also apply for entry via other routes (excluding China, Macau, Hong Kong, and Pakistan) if they carry valid passports.
2. Members of Indian Armed Forces: Naval, Military, and Air Force personnel entering or exiting India on duty, along with their families accompanying them on government transport, are exempt.
3. Tibetan refugees: Tibetans registered with Indian authorities and holding valid certificates are permitted entry subject to conditions linked to their date and mode of arrival, with differentiated treatment based on whether entry occurred before 2003, between 2003 and the commencement of the Act, or thereafter.
4. Minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan: Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who entered India on or before December 31, 2024, due to religious persecution (or fear thereof), are exempted even if they lack valid documents or if their passports/visas have expired.
5. Sri Lankan Tamil refugees: Registered Sri Lankan Tamils who sought shelter in India up to January 9, 2015, are exempt from restrictions under the Act for purposes of stay and exit.
6. Biometric and detention provisions: All foreigners applying for visas or Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration must submit biometric data. Illegal immigrants apprehended within India will be confined to holding centres or detention camps pending deportation.
7. Restrictions on mountaineering and protected areas: Foreigners may not climb peaks without prior government approval and liaison supervision. Entry into protected or restricted areas requires permits, with nationals of Afghanistan, China, and Pakistan expressly barred.

The 2015 precedent

The 2025 Order is not novel but rather a continuation of exemptions introduced a decade earlier.

• In September 2015, the MHA issued twin notifications:
  • The Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015 exempted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Bangladesh and Pakistan who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014, even without valid papers.
  • The Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015 granted the same groups exemption from the operation of the Foreigners Act, 1946, insulating them from deportation for overstaying or undocumented entry.

Both orders mirrored each other and systematically excluded Muslims, establishing the legal foundation for the later Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA).

Legal and policy analysis

The 2025 Order consolidates fragmented immigration exemptions into one comprehensive framework. Yet, its real significance lies in what it reveals about the State’s differential treatment of migrants based on religion and nationality.

• Consolidation with a selective core: While extending administrative clarity, the order entrenches selective humanitarianism. Religious minorities from three Muslim-majority neighbours are explicitly protected, while Muslims facing comparable conditions remain outside its ambit.
• From ad hoc notifications to statutory consolidation: The 2015 exemptions were executive measures issued under the Passport Act, 1920 and Foreigners Act, 1946. In contrast, the 2025 regime consolidates these fragmented exemptions under the newly enacted Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, thereby giving them a more structured and consolidated statutory footing.
• Detention architecture: For the first time, the MHA explicitly directs every state and Union Territory to establish dedicated holding centres/detention camps, formalising what was earlier an ad hoc practice.
• Continuity with CAA: The trajectory from the 2015 notifications → CAA 2019 → 2025 Order underscores a consistent policy of selective inclusion.

Conclusion

The Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025 represents both continuity and change. It consolidates exemptions for Tibetans, Sri Lankan Tamils, and India’s closest neighbours, while codifying detention mechanisms and strengthening biometric surveillance. Yet, at its core, it preserves the religion-based exclusions first articulated in 2015, institutionalising them within a sharper statutory framework.

By aligning immigration control with selective humanitarian relief, India’s new immigration regime advances legal clarity but also raises critical constitutional and human rights questions — especially around the equal treatment of similarly situated groups.

Related:

Inside CAA 2019: New Rules & Unresolved Questions

Has implementation of CAA 2019 already begun?

‘Black Acts’: Urmila compares CAA 2019 to Rowlatt Act 1919 at meet

Why the CAA+NPR+NRC is a toxic cocktail for everyone

The post New Immigration Order 2025: Streamlined rules, old exclusions appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Dazzling Den by the Sea

Colaba, Mumbai

September 1, 2025

To

The Honourable Minister of Road Transport and Highways,

Government of India,

New Delhi – 110001

Subject: Ethanol Blended Everything for a Happier Bharat

Hon’ble Sir,

Allow me to introduce myself. My full time vocation is to dialogue with luminaries like yourself on matters of national and global importance. In the past, leaders like Xi, Trump and our very own Supreme Leader, have benefited from my musings. On the side, I dabble in vintage woodcraft.

What an exciting pantomime you’ve started with this Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) initiative!

E20 is in every pump, saving ₹1.44 lakh crore in forex for the nation. It is making farmers happy. You have also promised Green Hydrogen at $1 per kilo! Wow, you will soon become the Tata – Birla of renewable dreams!

However, as a proud Parsi sitting in my den by the sea, sipping ethanol free chai (for now), I’m wondering, “Why stop at petrol? If sugarcane juice can fuel our Maruti Swifts, why not blend ethanol into everything else for national importance? Why don’t we make India the world’s Ethanol Republic?

Here’s my humble list of ethanol blended goodies to revolutionize our desi lifestyle, reduce emissions, and maybe even make us giggle like we would at a Parsi double meaning play. 

Ethanol Blended Milk (E20 Moo)

Sir, our cows are burping methane like nobody’s business. At 25 kilos per cow per year, it’s enough to rival a Gurgaon traffic jam smog! We should blend 20% ethanol into milk, and voila, one could calm the cow’s tummy, cut methane emissions, and give kids a fizzy milkshake that doubles as a science experiment. Amul’s next tagline could be “The Taste of India, now with a Kick!” The cows might wobble a bit, but think of the forex savings. No need to import methane scrubbers when we’ve got ethanol straight from Maharashtra’s sugarcane fields. Any downside? Kids might start singing “Tumhi ho mata, ethanol tumhi ho” at school assemblies.

Ethanol Blended Cooking Oil (E10 Fry)

Why fry our bhajiyas in boring groundnut or palm oil when we can splash in 10% ethanol? Our pakoras will pop with patriotic zeal. The kitchen will smell like a Mallya distillery, reminding us of the Good Times. Ethanol’s high octane could literally make our samosas combust with flavour! The economic impact will be significant with less oil import (₹12 lakh crore saved, like EBP). If the kadhai catches fire, it’s just a “green flame” for Bharat’s glory. We might of course need fireproof aprons, but that’s a small price for a crispy, eco-friendly vada-pav. 

Ethanol Blended Pani Puri (E15 Gol Gappa)

Our street food needs a patriotic upgrade! Mix 15% ethanol into the theekha pani, and every gol gappa will become a tribute to energy security. The spicy kick will mask the ethanol tang, and the buzz will have our chaat lovers dancing to “Bharat Mata ki Jai” on the streets. Health benefit? Ethanol’s antiseptic properties might kill off that dodgy bacteria from roadside stalls. Downside? We’ll need designated drivers for pani-puri binges. But hey, that may create a million new jobs for Ola & Uber! 

Ethanol Blended Chai (E10 Brew)

Chai is our national drink, isn’t it?  Let’s blend 10% ethanol into every cup, and we’ll have our yuppies zipping through spreadsheets like a hydrogen powered Tata bus. The sugarcane farmers will thank you, and we’ll save forex by cutting coffee imports (who needs Starbucks when you’ve got Ethanol Chai?). Less milk would mean fewer methane belching cows. An upside could be that Irani cafés might turn into karaoke bars, with uncles singing “Chaiyya Chaiyya” off-key. 

Ethanol-Blended Roshogulla (E20 Sweet)

Why stop at liquids? We should infuse our beloved roshogullas with 20% ethanol syrup, turning every bite into a patriotic sugar rush. Kolkata’s sweet shops should lead this charge. We should even export these sizzling balls to beat Brazil’s ethanol game. Emission reduction? Maybe not, but the happiness index will soar, and happy citizens would burn less fossil fuel. We may have to warn diabetics to stick to sugar free E0 roshogullas. 

Ethanol-Blended Incense Sticks (E5 Agarbatti)

For our temples and yoga retreats, we could blend 5% ethanol into agarbatti for a cleaner burn, literally and spiritually. The smoke will carry ethanol’s green vibes to the gods, reducing our carbon karma. As agarbattis spread the smell of a sugarcane distillery, devotees will be reminded of your EBP success. Downside? Priests might start dancing during aarti. We could attribute that to divine enthusiasm!

Why These Ideas, Sir?

The EBP program is a green dream saving ₹1.44 lakh crore and making farmers rich (₹40,000 crore in 2025 alone). It is also cutting CO2 by a modest 0-8%. But here’s the catch: our beloved sugarcane, the heart of this ethanol utopia, is a water-guzzling beast, slurping 7,150 litres per litre of ethanol while our rivers and groundwater in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh cry for mercy! It’s like dieting with gulab jamuns, a noble intent, though a messy outcome. Brazil’s E27 program faces the same paradox, drying up their fields for a 10-20% emission cut. Why not blend ethanol into our chai and roshogullas instead, saving water and letting us sip our way to a greener Bharat without turning our farms into deserts?

Brazil went all in with E27 and flex-fuel vehicles. The ethanol blended doodh, pakoras, and roshogullas will diversify our ethanol use and make every Indian a stakeholder in this green revolution. And, if you’re dreaming of offering hydrogen at $1/kg, why not dream of ethanol in every chai stall and sweet shop? 

How to Make It Happen? 

Label Everything. Brazil’s pumps scream “E27” or “E100.” Our doodhwallahs and chaatwallahs need “E20 Moo” or “E15 Gol Gappa” signs, mandated by the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board, to avoid confusion. No one should get a sober pani-puri by mistake!

Subsidize Blending. Offer ₹2,000 crore to Amul and Haldiram’s for ethanol-blending R&D, like your ₹19,744 crore subsidy for hydrogen fuel. If Reliance can aim for $1/kg hydrogen, why not $1/litre ethanol chai?

Do nationwide Consumer Education. Launch ads with you sipping E10 chai, saying, “Bharat ka fuel, Bharat ka taste!” Brazil’s ethanol ads won hearts. We need the Bollywood Khans to sell ethanol roshogullas.

Retrofit Industrial Kitchens. Like Maruti’s E20 kits (₹9,000-₹16,000), fund ethanol compatible kadhais and doodh vats. No corrosion in our bhajiyas, please!

A Small Favour

If hydrogen hits ₹80/kg ($1/kg), can we get a Parsi discount on FCEVs? My old Fiat can’t handle E20, and a Toyota Mirai at ₹50 lakh is a bit much for my humble budget. Until then, I’ll dream of ethanol blended bheja fry at Kyani Café.

Yours in patriotic and slightly tipsy fervour,

Cyrus Behramji Puranafurniturewala

Proud Parsi / Ethanol Enthusiast / Far-out Furniture Fan 

P.S. Do invite me to the E20 roshogulla launch. I’ll bring my own ethanol-blended kaju katli!

Related:

A Satirical Imperative Request (SIR) to the CEC of India

Cyrus Seeks a Right to Multiple Voter Ids

A Satirical Plea, Dripping with Envy, to President Xi Jinping of China

The post The Nation needs an Ethanol Republic – A Satire appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The problem of dubious duplicates: categories of duplication

The investigation further broke down the data into more granular categories, highlighting the varying degrees of suspiciousness:

• Identical Entries: In 16,375 cases, the duplicates were “spitting replicas” of each other, with names, relatives’ names, ages, and addresses all matching exactly or being only a few kilometres apart. These are the cases that should have been the easiest for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to detect.
• Near-Perfect Matches: There were 25,862 cases where all credentials—names, relatives’ names, and ages—matched, but the addresses were different. The report suggests that these could have been easily caught by the ECI’s software designed to identify “demographically similar entries.”
• Similar Ages: The most common category of duplication involved 1.02 lakh cases where individuals were registered twice with the same name, parent’s name, and an age difference of up to 5 years. This age similarity makes it difficult for a polling officer to distinguish between the two entries, potentially allowing a person to vote twice. The investigation also found 40,781 cases with a 6–10-year age difference and 45,774 cases with a difference of over 10 years.

New Investigation: We uncovered 1.88 lakh suspicious double voter registrations across just 39 assembly constituencies in Bihar, contradicting the Election Commission of India’s claim of having eliminated duplicates. 1/5https://t.co/cI1BhTLlFK

— the reporters’ collective (@reporters_co) September 1, 2025

The findings directly contradict the ECI’s claim that it had already removed more than seven lakh duplicate voters, representing 0.89% of electors, before publishing the draft rolls. The sheer number of remaining duplicates suggests that the deduplication process was not as thorough as the ECI had stated. The report also highlights that the ECI made the draft electoral rolls non-machine-readable, complicating large-scale data analysis by external parties.

Anomalies in voter deletions

On September 1, a separate analysis by The Hindu focused on the 65 lakh voters deleted from the draft electoral roll and revealed several distinct categories of anomalies. The patterns uncovered raise concerns about potential disenfranchisement, particularly of women and young voters, and the accuracy of the reasons for deletion.

Suspicious deletion patterns

The analysis identified eight specific patterns that defy demographic norms:

• Young Deaths: 80 assembly parts (polling stations) showed an unusually high proportion of young deaths. In these areas, more than half of the deceased voters were under the age of 50. For example, at one polling station in Bhagalpur, 50 out of 58 total deaths were of individuals under 50.
• Gender Bias: In 127 parts, there was a high gender bias in deletions, with women making up 80% or more of all deletions. This pattern suggests the potential disenfranchisement of women voters, particularly in areas with significant minority populations.
• Abnormally High Deletion Rates: 1,985 parts had more than 200 deletions each. In one part in Gopalganj, 641 voters were deleted, with the majority marked as “shifted.”
• Excessive Deaths: 412 parts reported more than 100 deaths each, a number that is demographically improbable.
• High Death Proportions: A staggering 7,216 parts reported that over 75% of their deletions were due to deaths. In some cases, like at a polling station in Bhagalpur, 99.4% of deletions were attributed to death.
• 100% Death-Based Deletions: 973 parts reported that all deletions were solely due to death, a statistically impossible scenario.
• Mass “Absent” Classifications: 5,084 stations had more than 50 voters marked as “absent.” In one case in Gopalganj, 457 voters were classified as absent.
• Suspicious Women “Shifts”: 663 parts showed a pattern where at least 60 voters were marked as “shifted,” with women comprising 75% or more of those cases. In three parts in Gopalganj, 100% of the shifted voters were women.

The Hindu Report published on September 1, 2025

The geographic concentration of these anomalies in border districts and areas with significant minority populations is also noted. The high proportion of deleted young women voters, particularly those marked as “shifted,” raises questions about whether these are cases of marriage migration that were not properly re-registered.

The narratives and numbers

The two reports, while distinct in their focus, paint a similar picture of a flawed electoral roll revision process. They highlight a significant gap between the ECI’s stated claims of a “purified” list and the ground reality revealed by data analysis. The ECI has, in its social media statements, not denied the facts presented but has questioned the methodology, calling it “data mining” and arguing that such patterns do not conclusively prove duplication without on-the-ground verification.

However, the findings have been also endorsed by opposition political parties and activists. The Vote for Democracy expert, Dr. Pyara Lal Garg, for instance, extrapolated the findings of The Reporters’ Collective to estimate the total number of fake voters across all 243 constituencies in Bihar to be over 11.7 lakhs. Similarly, the Congress party has claimed to have submitted 89 lakh complaints of irregularities.

Another day, another “Voter Fraud”: Congress

Reacting to the Reporters’ Collective findings, Congress MP and General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala criticised the ECI. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “Another day – another ‘Voter Fraud’! Now, 1,88,000 (1.88 Lakh) ‘Dubious Double Voters’ exposed in Bihar. No day passes before ‘Vote Chori’ isn’t exposed in Bihar

Another day – another “Voter Fraud” !

Now, 1,88,000 (1.88 Lakh) “Dubious Double Voters” exposed in Bihar.

No day passes before “Vote Chori” isn’t exposed in Bihar. https://t.co/KiSk5xRjzH

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) September 1, 2025

TMC MP Sagarika Ghosh also slammed the silence of mainstream media and the inaction of the Election Commission. She posted on X that “Mainstream Godi media may blank out the Opposition’s #VoterAdhikarYatra but EVERY DAY brings out new exposes by non-legacy media of MASSIVE vote manipulation. Time for the Kumbhakarna called @ECISVEEP to wake up. Aisa ‘SIR’ nahi chalega, sirs! #SIR”

Mainstream Godi media may blank out the Opposition’s #VoterAdhikarYatra but EVERY DAY brings out new exposes by non legacy media of MASSIVE vote manipulation . Time for the Kumbhakarna called @ECISVEEP to wake up. Aisa ‘SIR’ nahi chalega, sirs! #SIR #VoteChorGaddiChhor https://t.co/DXWBDc8rhU

— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) September 1, 2025

However, the ECI has maintained that the draft roll is subject to continuous scrutiny and that individuals and political parties have the opportunity to file claims and objections. The reports highlight the difficulty in doing so, especially with the rolls being non-machine-readable. The Supreme Court has also intervened, with the ECI assuring the court that claims and objections can be filed even after the official deadline, extending the window for voters to rectify their details.

Moreover, the investigations reveal the critical need for transparency and a robust, verifiable process for electoral roll revision. While the ECI has the ultimate authority to validate these cases, the sheer volume of these dubious entries and deletions suggests that the current system has significant shortcomings that could impact the outcome of upcoming elections.

Related

In Bihar 3 lakh electors served with doubtful citizen notices by Election Commission

Bihar SIR: New elector applications doubled in just 2 days, showing a 96.6% increase

The Stolen Franchise: Why the Election Commission cannot escape accountability

The post 1.88 lakh dubious double voters found in Bihar, unusual deletion patterns raise doubts appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While the Chief Electoral Office, Bihar categorically denied receiving any formal claims or objections in the prescribed formats, the Congress asserted it has stamped receipts from District Electoral Officers as proof of submission—indicating a sharp contradiction between the two versions.

Congress filed 89 lakh complaints on Bihar SIR with the Election Commission, but all were rejected, says Pawan Khera

At a press conference in Patna on August 31, senior Congress leader and head of the party’s media and publicity department, Pawan Khera — accompanied by Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram and senior leaders Akhilesh Prasad and Shakeel Ahmad alleged that the EC keeps getting news planted through its sources that no complaints are coming from any political party.

“The truth is that the Congress submitted 89 lakh complaints pertaining to irregularities in the SIR to the EC”, he said

Names deleted, but no process followed: Congress

Khera detailed the scale and categories of deletions:

• 25 lakh names struck off for alleged migration
• 22 lakh marked as deceased
• 9.7 lakh missing at their registered addresses
• 7 lakh names removed for being registered elsewhere

The Congress contended that while errors and migration are valid reasons for cleanup, the patterns of deletion were deeply suspicious, especially since a large proportion of women voters were removed under the migrant category—an unexpected finding given that it is mostly men who migrate for work.

All the deleted names would have to be verified again: Congress

Addressing media alongside Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram, Khera said despite blatant resistance from the ECI to the complaints, district Congress committee presidents secured the signed and stamped receipts from the District Electoral Officers.

He said “The ECI refused to accept complaints and objections from the booth-level agents, saying the complaints should be from the individual complainants and not from political parties.”

Khera further presented statistics that, according to the Congress, highlight a possible targeted purge as;

• 20,638 booths saw over 100 deletions
• 1,988 booths had over 200 names removed
• 7,613 booths reported deletion of 70% women voters
• In 635 booths, over 75% of migrant deletions were women
• In 7,931 booths, 75% of deletions were marked as deceased

He noted that in several instances, voters who were allegedly declared dead had met Rahul Gandhi recently during his visit to Bihar.

The ECI keeps getting news planted through its sources that no complaints are coming from any political party: Congress

Khera reiterated at the briefing that “We also have their receipts, and now this fact cannot be denied. We hope that the data we have provided will be verified by the EC, and an investigation conducted into that. There is a need for door-to-door verification again to correct these mistakes.”

Duplicate voter IDs and systemic gaps

In addition to deletions, Khera flagged multiple instances where single voters had received two EPIC (Elector Photo Identity Card) numbers, suggesting possible duplication that could distort the final roll.

He also accused the EC of adopting a rigid and opaque stance by refusing to accept complaints from political entities and demanding they be submitted by individuals—a rule, he argued, that goes against the spirit of transparent and participatory democracy.

EC had a pre-determined agenda: Congress

Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram alleged that the EC approached the exercise with a pre-conditioned mind-set, already anticipating a 20% deletion rate due to migration even before the review began.

“This suggests that the ECI was operating with a pre-conditioned mind-set. The irony lies in the fact that most of the voters whose names have been deleted from the electoral rolls do not even know about it,” he said.

No valid claims or objections filed by Congress BLAs: Bihar CEO rebuts allegations

In a strongly worded rebuttal to the Congress party’s claims, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar replied that no Booth Level Agent (BLA) authorised by any District Congress Committee (DCC) president has submitted valid claims or objections regarding entries in the draft electoral rolls. Citing the absence of prescribed documentation, the CEO’s office stated that “Till date, no BLA authorised by any district president of the INC in Bihar has submitted any claim (Form 6) or objection (Form 7).”

Link: https://x.com/CEOBihar/status/1962141479318798475

Objections must follow due procedure: Bihar CEO

The CEO’s office said that objections must adhere to the Election Commission’s established procedures under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Specifically, the CEO emphasised that objection to deletion of any name… may be given only in Form 7, or Booth Level Agents… may give the affidavit in the prescribed form along with declaration as per Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

Furthermore, referencing the Supreme Court interim order dated August 22, 2025, the CEO mentioned that “Any incorrect information in the draft voter list should be submitted… in the prescribed format to the concerned Electoral Registration Officer.”

89 lakh names, need proper oath and format — CEO on mass deletion demand

Addressing the INC’s claim that 89 lakh irregularities were flagged, the CEO’s office questioned the legitimacy of such a large-scale deletion request. While District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents recently sent letters demanding deletions, the CEO noted that the objections given by the Presidents of the District Congress Committee are not in the prescribed form.

These are being forwarded for consideration, but the CEO added that “Before initiating the process of deletion of names of about 89 lakh voters… the Electoral Registration Officer will take an appropriate decision… after taking such oath as may be prescribed, at his discretion, under Rule 20(3)(b).”

However, the demand for a complete re-verification of deleted names—especially women and marginalised groups—has now become a rallying cry for the Congress, while the EC insists that proper procedures exist and are being followed.

Related:

In Bihar 3 lakh electors served with doubtful citizen notices by Election Commission

Bihar SIR: New elector applications doubled in just 2 days, showing a 96.6% increase

The Stolen Franchise: Why the Election Commission cannot escape accountability

The post 89 lakh complaints of irregularities during Bihar SIR were rejected by ECI: Congress appeared first on SabrangIndia.