SIR may result in 27L people in Bengal losing their right to vote in this election, without getting a timely hearing. This is not just a matter of administrative complications. It strikes at the heart of the compact ordinary Indians have with elections
The image of an elderly man in West Bengal, in tears because his name was not on the voters list, is haunting. In recent conversations in rural and urban Bengal, it became clear, at the time, that two out of three voters had not found their names on the new voters list. This was mass disenfranchisement on an industrial scale.