Allegations of serious and systematic attacks on democratic rights in the country are steadily intensifying. Incidents in which names of eminent personalities—ranging from Bharat Ratna awardees to recipients of the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award—have been removed from electoral rolls have triggered deep national concern. The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has accused authorities of misusing electoral processes, calling it a direct assault on civic dignity and the right to vote.
SDPI National General Secretary Mohammad Ashraf has strongly condemned the latest case reported from Junagadh in Gujarat. In this instance, an attempt was made to delete the name of 80-year-old folk artist Mir Hajibhai Kasambhai, popularly known as Haji Ramakdu, from the voters’ list. Haji Ramakdu, who has devoted his life to dholak, bhajan, santvani, ghazal, and qawwali, was honoured with the Padma Shri on the eve of the 77th Republic Day. Despite this, an objection was filed against him under Form 7, claiming that he had permanently shifted elsewhere—an assertion contradicted by his well-known local and social ties. The objection is alleged to have been submitted by a local Bharatiya Janata Party councillor. The party has described this not as an administrative lapse, but as a calculated attack on democratic participation and human dignity.
The issue is not confined to a single individual. In Gujarat itself, Padma Shri–awardee and noted comedian Shahabuddin Rathod faced similar objections. Former Naval Chief Admiral Arun Prakash found his name missing from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision process. In West Bengal, the name of Bharat Ratna and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was deleted from the voters’ list. In Uttar Pradesh, international cricketer and Arjuna Award recipient Mohammed Shami also discovered that his name was absent, further deepening concerns of bias against prominent Muslim figures.
Similar instances have emerged from the political sphere as well. Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat alleged that he was deprived of his right to vote during a by-election, terming it political interference. Earlier, in Pune, the name of the wife of former Air Force Chief Pradeep Vasant Naik was also removed from the electoral rolls, pointing to serious systemic failures in the electoral machinery.
The SDPI alleges that the Special Intensive Revision process initiated in 2025 has been widely misused across the country. According to the party, more than 65 million voters’ names were removed from draft electoral rolls in nine states and three Union Territories. In states like Uttar Pradesh, deletions reportedly reached as high as 18 percent. The most affected groups include migrant workers, Adivasis, Dalits, women, and particularly the Muslim community.
Allegations from Rajasthan, Bihar, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh suggest that booth-level officers were collectively pressured by BJP leaders to file objections under Form 7, fabricate false claims of death or relocation, and carry out mass deletions of voters’ names in minority-dominated areas. In Jaipur, reports emerged of a booth-level officer threatening suicide after allegedly being pressured by a BJP MLA to remove Muslim voters’ names. In Bihar’s Dhaka Assembly constituency, allegations surfaced that nearly 80,000 Muslim voters were repeatedly targeted through objections submitted on BJP letterheads.
Serious concerns have also been raised in Kerala over the misuse of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision process. Complaints from various parts of the state indicate that voters’ names were removed en masse from minority-dominated areas through Form 7 without proper verification or prior notice. The party maintains that this represents a coordinated and deliberate effort that poses a grave threat to free, fair, and inclusive elections in Kerala.
The situation is described as most alarming in Assam. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been accused of openly expressing an intention to exclude Bengali-origin Muslims—whom he has reportedly referred to using the derogatory term “Miya”—from electoral rolls. In statements made in late January 2026, he described the revision process as a “pressure tactic,” suggested that the community vote in Bangladesh instead, and indicated that four to five lakh votes could be cancelled. These remarks have triggered nationwide protests and intensified allegations of electoral manipulation.
The Social Democratic Party of India has demanded an immediate halt to the Special Intensive Revision process, an independent and impartial inquiry into its implementation, and strict accountability for officials and political actors involved in the misuse of voting rights. The party has appealed to the Supreme Court of India and the Election Commission to intervene, ensure transparency, enforce due process, and immediately restore the names of legitimate voters.
The party asserts that the foundation of democracy rests on the right to vote. If citizens are systematically deprived of this right, it warns, the very existence of the democratic system will be imperilled. “Every citizen’s vote must be protected without fear and without discrimination.”
