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DARK SECRETS: Sir org | Vintage Vibes

Congress' Jairam Ramesh calls Gyanesh Kumar a 'weapon of mass destruction' for electoral rolls

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called the Chief Election Commissioner a "weapon of mass destruction" for electoral rolls. Opposition parties submitted a notice seeking the removal of Gyanesh Kumar from his position. This demand stems from alleged "proved misbehaviour" and "partisan asymmetry" in enforcing the Model Code. The Monsoon session of…

The Economic Times

SIR now part of class 9 NCERT textbook, Election Commission lauded for impartial polls

A new NCERT Class 9 textbook now features the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, highlighting its role in ensuring accurate voter lists. The textbook commends the Election Commission of India for conducting impartial polls amidst challenges like fake news and intimidation. While the SIR aims to update rolls,…

The Economic Times

SIR drive begins in Telangana, 36,000 BLOs set to knock on doors

Telangana has launched a comprehensive house-to-house enumeration for electoral rolls, involving 36,000 Booth Level Officers until July 24. The draft roll will be published on July 31, with the final version on October 1. Officials assure genuine voters their names will remain, emphasizing timely completion. Over 3,500 supervisors and 1,000…

The Economic Times

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SIR verdict: Outcome was apparent; BJP will decide who can vote, says Yogendra Yadav

The Supreme Court has upheld the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Activist Yogendra Yadav strongly criticizes the verdict. He claims the ruling BJP will now determine who can vote. Yadav alleges the court focused on grievance redressal instead of constitutional validity. He believes the decision authorizes the…

The Economic Times

Bengal SIR: Tribunals dispose of 6,581 appeals so far, allow 61.5% cases back in voter rolls

West Bengal's appellate tribunals have processed only a small percentage of nearly 25 lakh appeals concerning electoral roll revisions. Out of over 6,500 cases decided, about 61.5 percent were allowed, reinstating names on voter lists. Many appeals remain pending. Tribunals were formed following Supreme Court directives to address grievances.

The Economic Times

4 tests, 1 question: Did SIR shape Bengal outcome?

On May 4, the BJP clinched 207 of 294 seats in West Bengal. It was historic. So was what preceded it.

Newslaundry

From Bengal to Assam, Hindutva rewrites the east: BJP's landslide ends era of regional strongmen

The Bharatiya Janata Party has achieved a significant victory in West Bengal, marking a shift in eastern India's political landscape. Regional leaders have been replaced by the BJP. Actor Vijay's party has secured a remarkable win in Tamil Nadu. The Congress party will now govern three states. These election results…

The Economic Times

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SIR omissions and errors of commission

Recent Indian state elections saw surprising outcomes. However, electoral roll changes, especially in West Bengal, raise serious questions. Millions were removed from voter lists, impacting specific communities and parties. This process lacked transparency and safeguards. The writer argues that these alterations undermine the legitimacy of the election results. An independent…

The Economic Times

Deleted despite documents: Inside West Bengal’s ‘political’ SIR

The run-up to elections in West Bengal has been anything but normal. The Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has led to the exclusion of nearly 90 lakh voters from the electoral rolls. Of these, 27 lakh were excluded after being placed “under adjudication” over “logical discrepancies” in their documents,…

Newslaundry

Bengal’s migrant workers caught between ‘ghuspaithiya’ politics and SIR deletions

Md Anikul Hoque, a migrant labourer from Samserganj in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, has waited through many crises. He stood in queues for food, water, and cash during demonetisation in 2016. He worked through the Covid-19 lockdown inside sealed buildings in Odisha “like a thief in a prison” waiting to…

Newslaundry

‘Bid to move us to Bangladesh’: At the Bengal poll booths where every second voter is gone

Gajol SK’s name was deleted from West Bengal’s voter rolls. Now he is afraid of what comes next.

Newslaundry

All buttoned up: How the skirt suit reclaimed its cool status in 2026

The skirt suit has gone from the matriarch’s fashion MO to an it-girl go-to

Evening Standard

‘We are Chitragupta of the Bengal SIR’: Meet the SABAR team tracking deleted voters

Earlier this month, a study by the Kolkata-based SABAR Institute uncovered an alarming disparity in West Bengal’s Nandigram constituency, where Muslims – who comprise 26 percent of the electorate – accounted for 95.5 percent of voter deletions across recent supplementary voter lists published by the Election Commission of India.

Newslaundry

A father, a beneficiary, ex-BLO: The SIR chaos queue in a Bengal district

Aftab Alam gave his primary school examination at Krishnanath School in Titagarh in 1976. He is 64 now. Today, he was back at the same school. It was not for any reunion, but to prove he has the right to vote.

Newslaundry

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Newslaundry

Infiltration, SIR, ‘washing machine’ | The Suvendu Adhikari interview

With West Bengal heading to the polls in just two weeks, credible reports indicate that the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has disenfranchised millions of voters. The SIR exercise, the opposition TMC alleges, has been designed to pave the way for a BJP victory.

Newslaundry

‘No disease’, only ‘impediment removal’: Delhi meet flags Bengal’s 90 lakh voter deletions

Two days after the Election Commission of India released another list of deleted voters in West Bengal’s controversial special intensive revision, political activist Yogendra Yadav on Wednesday said that deletions would “critically” affect the governing Trinamool Congress in 19-25 constituencies in the upcoming assembly polls. In the 2021 state polls,…

Newslaundry

‘Feels like a betrayal’: SIR deletions hit BJP’s own Hindu refugee base in West Bengal

“It feels like we aren’t worth anything at all. Everyone is able to vote but us. Money aatonko aatonko hocche (My mind is wracked with fear). Those who have voting rights, they have [worth]; we have nothing else,” says Pratima Roy, a 34-year-old resident of Bongaon Uttar.

Newslaundry

Amid Bengal voter roll uncertainty, activists flag ‘disproportionate’ exclusions

As West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Office prepared to publish the final supplementary voter list under the Special Intensive Revision, the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, a non-profit working on civil liberties, organised a workshop at the Press Club of India titled “Vanishing Voter Rights and Vulnerable Citizenship: Effects of…

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Newslaundry

‘Generations lived here…voted all my life’: The people left behind in UP SIR draft rolls

After the draft list under Uttar Pradesh’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was published, the potential deletion of nearly 2.89 crore voters has triggered anxiety not just among political parties, but among ordinary citizens as well.

Newslaundry

SC’s baffling bail order rattled the press. Voter rolls exercise should terrify it

It is rare for India’s mainstream media to speak with one voice on an issue that makes the government uncomfortable. It is remarkable, therefore, that almost every major newspaper made strong editorial comments about the recent Supreme Court ruling granting bail to five of those implicated in the 2020 Delhi…

The Guardian - UK

India’s electoral roll revision threatens democracy and Muslims, say critics

Opposition claims SIR process being used to disenfranchise minority groups to benefit Narendra Modi’s government

Newslaundry

Foreign nationals account for around 0.012% of Bihar’s voters, SIR shows

The spectre of foreign voters has loomed large over Bihar’s upcoming polls.

Newslaundry

JD(U) spokesperson had two EPIC numbers in same Bihar constituency

In early September 2025, the Bharatiya Janata Party accused Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera and his wife, Telangana Congress vice president Kota Neelima, of electoral violations.

Newslaundry

How booth-level officers in Bihar are deleting voters arbitrarily

Jhurana Das made Bihar her home more than four decades ago. She moved to the state as a 23-year-old bride. It is where she built her life, and it is where she lost her husband to a kidney ailment last year. Now, as Jhurana approaches 70, she has to prove…

Newslaundry

Bihar’s silenced voters, India’s gagged press: The twin threats to Indian democracy

The Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, probably expected that his August 18 press conference would settle the controversy surrounding the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” charge. He was wrong. This is a story that has refused to die, notwithstanding Trump’s tariffs, or…

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