The Election Commission of India struck off 13 crore names from draft electoral rolls across 30 States and Union Territories since June 2025. This Special Intensive Revision triggered protests and scrutiny of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Experts are now questioning the constitutionality of these deletions and the data behind them.
More than 13 crore names have been struck off draft electoral rolls across 30 States and Union Territories since the Election Commission of India began the Special Intensive Revision in June 2025. The exercise has triggered protests and renewed scrutiny of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. In this episode, Sonikka Loganathan speaks to Srinivasan Ramani, Senior Associate Editor at The Hindu, about the key issues that led to these many deletions, what the data tells us about who is being deleted and the constitutionality of this exercise.