Millions of Indian citizens are struggling to prove they are still alive after a massive voter roll revision removed their names from the electoral lists. The Special Intensive Revision has deleted around 130 million names across the country, creating panic among ordinary families who now fear losing both their voting rights and important welfare benefits.
In Delhi alone, 4.2 million voters were struck off according to the draft rolls published on August 31. One of them is 53-year-old tailor Kamta Prasad. Officials listed him as dead even though he has been voting for 35 years. He has spent days running from office to office, sacrificing his daily wage of 250 rupees just to prove he is alive. “I panicked when I heard about it,” he said. “Since then I have been going everywhere to show that I am still here.”
The deletions have sparked continuous protests in New Delhi and other cities. Opposition parties and youth groups accuse Election Commission chief Gyanesh Kumar of manipulating the process to help the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Both the commission and the BJP strongly deny the charge.
Many voters were marked as deceased, shifted, absent or registered elsewhere. In Prasad’s locality, about 2,000 out of 9,000 names disappeared. Teacher Kamal Lal, 38, was labelled “permanently shifted” even though he still lives under a flyover with his family. He does not have land papers or water bills, which officials demanded as proof of residence.
For poorer families the problem goes beyond voting. Mamta, a 39-year-old woman whose name was also removed, worries that without her name on the list she may lose subsidised rations and other government schemes. Officials have told some people to simply register as new voters, but many refuse because they have voted in previous elections and do not want to start from zero.
The Election Commission says anyone wrongly deleted can file claims with supporting documents and appeal before the final rolls are prepared. Yet for ordinary citizens the process has become a long and exhausting bureaucratic maze involving repeated visits, hearings and multiple applications.
After weeks of protests, the commission ordered fresh verification in some states including Delhi. Prasad has received assurances that his name will be restored, but thousands of others continue to wait, hoping the system will finally recognise that they are still very much alive.
