Protesters demand the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the resignation of India’s top election official, in Hyderabad, India, on October 24, 2026.
The Indian authorities’ removal of over 130 million names from the country’s electoral rolls was arbitrary and deeply flawed.Indian authorities first stripped millions of citizens of their right to vote and are now beating and jailing them for peacefully protesting these rights violations.The authorities should immediately scrap the voter roll revision process that has denied India’s most marginalized people their right to vote and other government services.
(London) – The Indian authorities’ removal of over 130 million names from the country’s electoral rolls is arbitrary and deeply flawed, Human Rights Watch said today.
In October 2026, tens of thousands of people across India began demonstrating against the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The process purportedly removed dead, duplicate, or ineligible voters, but has been arbitrary and opaque and has disproportionately excluded women, people living in poverty, religious minorities, especially Muslims, and people from other marginalized communities. In October, the Election Commission submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court defending its functioning and rejecting all allegations of irregularities.
“Indian authorities first stripped millions of citizens of their right to vote and are now beating and jailing them for peacefully protesting these rights violations,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately scrap the voter roll revision process that has denied India’s most marginalized people their right to vote and other government services.”
The protesters have demanded that the process should be scrapped and that the country’s top ele
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