India

ECI’s nationwide SIR plan: a ‘unified’ push, applied differentially across states

The Election Commission is stepping into a nationwide rollout of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) with a unified goal — but state-level realities remain fractured, as Bengal revisits 2002 data, Assam ties voter rolls to citizenship, and Bihar faces Supreme Court scrutiny

Punjab University’s former dean writes to CJI: Bihar SIR threatens democracy, alleges ECI overreach & voter disenfranchisement

77-year-old Dr. Pyara Lal Garg's writes to CJI, exposes Bihar's "SIR" flaws, alleging ECI violations risk disenfranchising millions, stating, "The ball lies Before Your Lordships to uphold the constitution, to save the Democracy and to protect the voting rights..."

Assam’s Foreigners’ Tribunals bypass constitutional safeguards: Report

Given the possibility of the onset of a nationwide exercise to update the National Register of Citizens, the report, ‘Unmaking Citizens’ by NLSIU & Queen Mary University of London, calls for an urgent, fundamental rethinking of the legal structures governing citizenship in India

Non-Electors Within Electors: ECI reports over 61 lakh potential exclusions

As Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) deadline arrives, ECI data reveals over 61 lakh potential voter exclusions, including millions identified as deceased, migrated, or 1 lakh untraceable, and nearly 7 lakh who haven't submitted forms, this massive culling of names fuels the INDIA Bloc's intensified, third-day protest, marked by LoP Mallikarjun Kharge's dramatic tearing of a symbolic SIR document outside Parliament

Bihar’s untraceable electors spiral by 809% in just one day, ECI reports 1 lakh ‘missing’, 15 lakh Bihar voters yet to submit forms

Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls faces intense backlash, while 52 lakh deletions were flagged by July 22 by the controversial ECI, including 11,484 "untraceable" electors, this figure for "untraceable" voters shockingly surged to 1 lakh (an 809% jump) by July 23, with overall deletions hitting 56 lakh—a dramatic increase of 3 lakh in just 24 hours. Leader of the Opposition, RJD leader, Tejaswi Yadav threatens boycott of state polls

When data is used as a weapon against reality: Deviations in the HCES & CES, claims of poverty line

This Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) is qualitatively different in methodology (including sampling) from the earlier Household Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) last conducted in 2011-12, and therefore the two are not comparable. So the claim that India’s poverty has declined to below 5% doesn’t hold water: Second, the NITI Aayog has made no effort to even determine an official poverty line, last defined in the Census 2001.

ECI to SC: Voter ID insufficient for Bihar roll, defends citizenship verification power

Bihar’s electoral roll crisis: ECI defends excluding Voter IDs for new entries and power to citizenship verification; ECI’s revision flags 52.3 Lakh (6.62%) electors not found at their addresses (including 18.6L deceased, 26L shifted, 7.5L multiple entries and 11K untraceable voters), amid concerns over disenfranchisement of genuine voters and procedural hurdles, opposition stages black-clad protests outside the Bihar assembly

Weaponising Truth: A critical analysis of the Karnataka Misinformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Bill, 2025

Marketed as a tool to fight disinformation, the Karnataka Misinformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Bill, 2025 hands sweeping powers to the executive, criminalises speech, and threatens to silence dissent, satire, and critique—under vague and ideological pretexts

‘Define Special Intensive Revision scope… make it clear not linked to citizenship’: BJP ally TDP writes to CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Questioning the modus of the recently begun controversial SIR exercise, the TDP letter to Election Commission (ECI) states categorically that any such ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) should provide voters enough time, and that those in electoral rolls must not be required to re-establish eligibility “unless specific and verifiable reasons are recorded”

Behind the numbers: Economist Indira Hirway debunks India’s poverty reduction narrative

A recent article by noted economist Indira Hirway, titled...

Indian Muslims need to be protected as much from the communalism of their co-religionists as majoritarian communalism: In remembrance of CM Naim

An intrepid critique of entrenched and entitled Muslim elites, CM Naim, a historian and essayist, recently passed away at 85. Here his work is remembered for its out of the box thinking and commitment to both the culture and language around Urdu; an essay that recalls his works

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ECI’s nationwide SIR plan: a ‘unified’ push, applied differentially across states

The Election Commission is stepping into a nationwide rollout of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) with a unified goal — but state-level realities remain fractured, as Bengal revisits 2002 data, Assam ties voter rolls to citizenship, and Bihar faces Supreme Court scrutiny