Born into a small village in West Bengal, Shahida Fakir had always taken her vote for granted.
asserted
Fakir → bear → vote
That was, until it was suddenly taken away.
asserted
it → take → ?
She presented officials with her Indian birth certificate and family land documents from the village going back to 1962.
asserted
She → present → 1962
Both her parents had been on the electoral roll going back decades, so she showed proof of that too.
asserted
she → go → that
But when the final revised voter list came out in April, Fakir was not on it.
asserted
Fakir → revise → it
The 38-year-old migrant worker, born into a poor Muslim family, was not alone.
asserted
worker → bear → family
Since last year, 130 million names – more than the population of Japan – have been removed from India’s electoral roll through a process known as SIR, or special intensive revision.
asserted
names → remove → SIR
In the nearly eight decades since India’s independence, never have the voter rolls shrunk by such a huge amount over such a short time.
asserted
rolls → shrink → time
The Narendra Modi government has called SIR a legitimate exercise to clean up the electoral rolls.
asserted
government → call → rolls
Overseen by the election commission, tens of millions of dead and duplicate names have been removed.
asserted
millions → oversee → names
Yet so have the names of millions of living Indian citizens.
asserted
names → have → citizens
Critics allege that the pledge to “purify” India’s voter roll of illegal immigrants has instead been used for more sinister purposes – disenfranchising tens of millions of Muslims, other minorities, and poor and lower caste communities, who are largely not BJP voters.
asserted
who → allege → Muslims
In a matter of weeks, nationwide anger at SIR has boiled up and spilled out on to the streets of India’s biggest cities, presenting a formidable challenge to the government.
asserted
anger → boil → government
Over the weekend, Delhi was transformed into a high-security fortress of barricades, roadblocks and tens of thousands of police and paramilitaries who detained thousands of people, as they attempted to stop youth-led protests calling for the man who oversaw SIR, the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, to step down immediately.
asserted
who → transform → SIR
On Monday, opposition parties – who have decried SIR as a “weapon for vote theft” by the Modi government – drew tens of thousands of supporters as they marched through the capital and presented a petition to the supreme court, demanding Kumar’s resignation.
asserted
they → decry → resignation
The youth-led Cockroach Janta party (CJP) movement, who were behind the call for Saturday’s action, have vowed to “fight on” in their protests against SIR.
asserted
who → lead → SIR
Opposition and civil society leaders allege that SIR has already given the BJP an electoral advantage in states such as Bihar and West Bengal, claims the party denied.
uncertain
party → allege → Bihar
Others say the exercise has had even more concerning implications: under changes to SIR unilaterally implemented by Kumar, the election commission has become the arbiter of Indian citizenship, a sweeping overreach of its remit.
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commission → say → remit
The consequences are already playing out in West Bengal, where Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) recently came to power and began a crackdown on “illegal” immigrants, complete with several new detention centres.
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party → play → centres
Civil society groups say Muslims excluded by SIR are being targeted.
asserted
Muslims → say → SIR
Just three months after the voter list was published – and while her hearing to challenge her exclusion was pending – she was picked up by police and accused of being an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant.
asserted
she → publish → police
In July she was pushed over the border to Bangladesh, a country she had never been to nor had any connection with, and remains stuck there.
asserted
she → push → connection
“I have all the documents to prove I am an Indian citizen,” she said in a tearful phone call from the Bangladesh border village where she has been sheltering.
asserted
she → have → village
“I fell on their feet and begged the police not to send me to Bangladesh but they pushed me over the border.”
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they → fall → border
A Bangladesh border guard officer confirmed Fakir’s account.
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officer → confirm → account
“We checked all her documents and are convinced that she is an Indian citizen,” they said.
asserted
they → check → documents
In September, her family submitted a petition to the supreme court challenging her deportation.
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family → submit → deportation
The Indian government was given a month to respond.
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government → give → month
“All I want is to return to my family and my home in India.
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I → want → India
I am waiting desperately for that day,” she said.
asserted
she → wait → day
The backlog of millions of voters in West Bengal challenging their exclusion means it could be years before Fakir’s case is heard.
uncertain
case → challenge → exclusion
Those across West Bengal who have been stripped of their votes speak of their terror of being accused of being an alien in their own land.
asserted
who → strip → land
Some have had benefits taken away.
asserted
benefits → have → ?
Mohammad Hedayet Ullah Siddiqui, 80, from the North 24 Parganas district, said his grandfather had been a freedom fighter for Indian independence and three generations of his family were on the voter rolls.
asserted
generations → say → rolls
Yet after SIR, Siddiqui described his “humiliation” on finding his name gone.
asserted
name → describe → humiliation
“With my name erased from the voter list, I am in constant terror.
asserted
I → erase → terror
What if they send me to a detention camp?” he said.
asserted
he → send → camp
“I cannot bear to think about being separated from my children and grandchildren at this age, especially when all my ancestors have been buried in India.”
asserted
ancestors → bear → India
Critics say the problems began in 2023, when the Modi government changed the process for appointing the three-body election commission, giving majority control to the government for the first time.
asserted
government → say → time
Within a matter of months, the Modi-led panel had appointed Kumar as the election commissioner in spite of opposition objections.
asserted
panel → lead → objections
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
