India: revision of electoral lists raises fears of exclusion of Muslim citizens

The arrest of Rahul Gandhi, a figure in the Indian opposition, on Wednesday in New Delhi, accentuates the crisis around the electoral lists. Several investigations document threats to Muslim voter registration, while authorities reject accusations of manipulation.

The contestation of electoral lists takes on a new dimension in India. On Wednesday October 7, the police arrested Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Congress party and one of the main opposition figures, as well as several parliamentarians in New Delhi. The demonstrators demanded the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, the chairman of the Election Commission, whose impartiality they questioned. The opposition accuses this institution of favoring Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister since 2014 and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling Hindu nationalist party. The Election Commission and the BJP reject accusations of manipulation.

At the heart of the conflict is a vast operation to verify registrations. According to a Reuters analysis published on September 28, citing local media, around 130 million people were not on the first provisional lists. However, this figure does not correspond to as many citizens permanently deprived of the vote: requests for re-registration and appeals can modify the lists. The authorities explain that they want to remove the registrations of deceased people, duplicates and those of people who have moved or who have become untraceable.

For Muslim citizens, concerns are based in particular on concrete situations. In Karnataka, The Indian Express reported on October 2 that 82 forms had been submitted in Ujire requesting the removal of names of Muslim voters. Ahmed Shah, a concerned resident, explained that he discovered that his family was targeted even though they had completed the requested documents and regularly participated in the elections.

These are requests for deletion, and not deletions that have all actually been carried out. The newspaper also reports that local election officials have tightened supporting documentation requirements for these requests.

In Maharashtra, another survey by the same daily notes that 29.77% of voters in 38 constituencies where Muslims represent more than 20% of the population had not been included in the provisional lists, compared to 21.14% at the state level. A worrying difference, but which does not, in itself, allow us to measure exclusions according to religion: the data concerns all voters in these constituencies. They therefore do not demonstrate that all those absent from the lists are Muslims, nor that religious targeting is established.

These concerns were also relayed by three United Nations special rapporteurs. In a letter addressed to Indian authorities on May 1 and reported in July by The Indian Expressthey demanded explanations on allegations of discrimination against Muslim and Bengali voters. They specified that they did not prejudge the accuracy of these accusations. Behind the political battle, a question remains: will citizens wrongly excluded be able to have their situation corrected in time to vote? To assess the consequences of this operation, it will be necessary to follow the final lists, the reinstatements and the outcome of the appeals — beyond just the figures announced.