1
What happened
The biggest voter list cleanup in India's history
Most states had not checked their voter lists door to door since 2002 to 2004. So in June 2025 the Election Commission began a Special Intensive Revision, or SIR. An officer visits every home. If you can't be found, or your form doesn't come back, you're off the list until you apply again.
It started in Bihar and has since covered almost every state. Here is how much each voter list shrank.
Voters before SIR → after SIR
In crore voters, sorted by how much each list shrank
Maharashtra9.78 → 7.71 · draft
Uttar Pradesh15.44 → 13.39
Madhya Pradesh5.74 → 5.40
Across Bihar and the 12 Phase 2 states and UTs, final rolls hold about 5.8 crore fewer voters than before. Karnataka's final roll takes off another 99 lakh, almost one voter in five. Bengaluru alone lost over 43 lakh names.
Nobody disputes that the lists had dead and duplicate names. The questions are who else got cut, and who decided.
2
Who got dropped
Not infiltrators. Mostly people who moved.
Home Minister Amit Shah described SIR's goal as "detect, delete, deport" for infiltrators. In 2025 he said that only infiltrators had been removed in Bihar. So we went looking for the data on who was actually removed.
ForeignersBarely any found
Hindustan Times asked 26 states and UTs. Only six gave a count: 1,600 suspected foreigners among 9.86 crore voters checked, about one in 60,000. Karnataka found 716, mostly from Nepal. The EC says it never asked states to count foreigners, and that any found were filed under "Others".People who movedBiggest group
By the EC's own categories, most removals were marked "shifted". In Karnataka, 65 lakh of 1.08 crore removals. In Bihar, 36 lakh shifted, 22 lakh dead, 7 lakh duplicates, and no category for foreigners at all. Migrant workers, renters and students move the most.WomenHit harder
Human Rights Watch found women were over 60% of those deleted in West Bengal and nearly 60% in Bihar. Women who moved to their husband's home after marriage, widows and single women were especially affected.MuslimsOver-represented where checked
The EC records no religion, so there is no national number. Where researchers checked: in Patharpratima, Bengal, over 92% of deleted voters were Muslim, in a seat about 9% Muslim. In two Uttar Pradesh seats, about 90% of deletion forms targeted Muslim voters (HRW).Young voters, caste, incomeNo data exists
The EC has published no breakdown by age, caste or income, and we found no national independent one. HRW reports Adivasis were flagged disproportionately, partly over name spellings, but gives no national number.
Our read
The infiltrator story does not match the data. The people SIR removed were overwhelmingly Indians the system recorded as having moved, died or been listed twice, and the burden fell hardest on women and, in the places checked, on Muslims.
And if the lists really had been full of infiltrators, the question would go to the Home Ministry, which guards the border. The numbers don't show that they were.
3
Who decided
Three statements, all on record
The Indian Express · 23 SepTwo of three election commissioners objected at least 14 times in 10 months, on file.They objected to changes to Form 6, central control of the voter database, and appeals filed in the Commission's name, some decided without their knowledge. They wrote to the Cabinet Secretary.
The EC to the Supreme Court · 26 OctAll three SIR orders were unanimous. Form 6 was never amended.The EC does not deny the notes exist. It calls them suggestions and a normal part of deliberation.
The Supreme CourtSIR is constitutional and can continue.27 May: upheld SIR. 5 Oct: said it never approved a modified Form 6. 28 Oct: asked why voters already on Delhi's roll were told to re-register as new voters.
Our read
All three are true, and that is the problem. The three big orders were signed by all three commissioners. The decisions that came after, on forms, software and appeals, are what two of them objected to. Those decisions shaped who got cut and who could get back in.
On the one we can check, the objectors look right. The EC said the court had approved the Form 6 change. The court said it hadn't. The EC withdrew the change in states where SIR was over.
4
The rules
Who picks the referee
In March 2023, the Supreme Court said the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice should pick election commissioners until Parliament made a law. In December 2023, Parliament did. It replaced the Chief Justice with a Union minister chosen by the Prime Minister.
17 February 2025: the meeting that picked Gyanesh Kumar
- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
- Amit Shah, Home Ministernominated by the PM
- Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Oppositiondissented, asked to wait for a Supreme Court hearing two days later
The same 2023 law added a clause, not in the original Bill, that bars courts from hearing any civil or criminal case against a current or former election commissioner for official acts. That protection lasts for life. The Supreme Court has tentatively listed a challenge to it for 16 November.
Kumar's term ends on 26 January 2029. His successor will be picked the same way, months before the next Lok Sabha election.
Our read
This is the root problem, and it outlasts any one CEC or government. A referee picked 2 to 1 by one team, who can never be sued or prosecuted for what he does on duty, will be distrusted by whoever is losing. Today that is the Opposition. After a change of government, it will be the BJP.
5
The claims
Six claims, and what we think of each
Our read on each claim is based on the public record and data as of 1 November 2026, not on whether a court has ruled yet.
Opposition, CJP, AISALooks true
The CEC pushed decisions past his own colleagues
- 14 written objections from two of three commissioners in 10 months
- The EC calls it normal deliberation, and says only its three big orders were unanimous
- The Form 6 change they opposed was withdrawn in states where SIR was over, and the court later said it never approved it
Our readThe Commission is not working as a three-member body should. Unanimity on three orders does not cover the decisions that followed.
Home Minister Amit Shah, BJPLooks false
SIR is removing infiltrators
- Six states counted 1,600 suspected foreigners among 9.86 crore voters
- Karnataka: 716 foreigners against 99 lakh fewer voters
- The EC's own categories are shifted, dead and duplicate; it never asked states to count foreigners
Our readWhatever SIR removed, the record does not show it was infiltrators.
Rahul Gandhi, CongressNot shown
Votes are being stolen to win elections
- Gandhi's claims on Mahadevapura and Haryana were never filed as the sworn declaration the EC asked for
- In Aland, Karnataka, a chargesheet names a former BJP MLA and his son over attempts to delete 5,994 voters in 2023
- Reports say Karnataka's CID wrote to the EC 18 times for technical data
Our readAland shows fake deletions have been tried. Nothing public shows an election was stolen at the scale claimed. Reports that the EC did not hand over data investigators asked for make both harder to settle.
Ex-Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji ThomsonUnanswered
The CEC is the BJP's man
- Thomson says Kumar, then a serving IAS officer, urged him in 2016 to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket
- Serving IAS officers are barred from politics
- A BJP Kerala leader says Thomson himself once wanted to join the BJP
- We found no public response from Kumar in the five weeks since
Our readOne account cannot settle it. A CEC picked by the government side who has not publicly answered a specific, named allegation makes trust harder, whatever the truth.
Mamata Banerjee, TMCTrue for some seats
SIR decided Bengal
- The BJP won 206 of 293 seats. Majority is 147.
- In 49 seats, deleted voters outnumbered the winning margin: BJP won 26, TMC 21, Congress 2 (Alt News)
- Even if all 26 of those BJP seats had flipped, the BJP would still have 180
- Over 34 lakh people with pending appeals could not vote; HRW says about 93% of appeals decided were restored
Our readThe deletions did not decide who rules Bengal. They could have decided some seats, and they kept lakhs of eligible people from voting.
Election Commission, BJPHalf true
It was a needed cleanup, and the Opposition is playing politics
- Most lists were last checked door to door two decades ago; Bihar alone had 22 lakh dead voters on its rolls
- Existing Delhi voters were told to re-register as first-time voters
- The EC appealed against 16 lakh Bengal voters whom judges had already cleared
Our readThe cleanup was needed. The way it was run was not fair to the people it was meant to protect.
6
What you can take from this
Six things the record tells us
- The lists needed cleaning. The cleanup was not run cleanly.Dead and duplicate names were real. So were forms the court never approved and voters cleared by judges and then challenged again.
- The infiltrator story doesn't match the numbers.Where anyone counted, foreigners were a rounding error. Most of those removed were Indians marked as having moved.
- The cost fell on the people with the least paperwork.Women, people who move for work, and, where researchers checked, Muslims. The EC has published nothing to show otherwise.
- The referee is divided, on record.Two of three commissioners objected in writing. On Form 6, the one point we can check, the record backs them.
- We found no data showing a state's result was flipped. We found plenty showing trust has collapsed.People who trusted the EC to some or a great extent fell from 78% in 2019 to 58% in 2024, before any of this.
- The real danger is the rulebook.The government of the day picks the referee 2 to 1, and he can never be prosecuted for official acts. Today's ruling party is tomorrow's opposition. A democracy only works if the side that loses believes the referee was fair.
What you can do this week
- Check your nameSearch at electoralsearch.eci.gov.in. If you're missing, apply on Form 6 in the EC's special drive, or Form 8 if you moved.
- Check one moreA parent, your house help, a student who moved for college. People who move are the most likely to be cut.
- Ask your MPShould the Chief Justice be back on the panel that picks the Election Commission?
A referee nobody notices is one everybody trusts. India has started noticing.
Swaraj
Notice. Care. Speak.
Send this to one person who thinks it's just politics.