NEW YORK (Kashmir English): The United Nations has sought a response from India on the deletion of the names of minorities from electoral rolls.
Three UN special representatives have written to the Indian government seeking a response on allegations that millions of voters have been excluded from electoral rolls.
The letter sought detailed data from India on voters excluded based on religion and ethnicity, saying that there have been allegations that about 9.1 million names have been excluded from electoral rolls in West Bengal and about 52 million names have been excluded in 12 states.
The UN representatives said that minorities, especially Muslims, have been affected by the large-scale deletion of names from electoral rolls.
The UN representatives have sought full details of appeals, objections, and their decisions from the Indian government within 60 days.
According to Indian media, the report highlights the impact of the Election Commission of India’s Special Review Programme (SIR) in West Bengal, especially the Nandigram assembly constituency.
According to the report, 95 percent of the voters allegedly deleted in one constituency, Nandigram, through the voter verification program, were Muslims, even though Muslims constitute only 25 percent of the total voters in that constituency.
