Indian Supreme Court demands government answers on voter purge — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- India's Supreme Court demanded that PM Modi's government, the Election Commission of India, and ECI chief Gyanesh Kumar answer "in a clear, transparent manner" for the removal of more than 130 million names from voter rolls in recent months.
- Chief Justice Surya Kant directly contradicted the ECI's earlier claim that a modified Form 6 had been court-approved, stating: "Modified Form 6 has not been approved by us, let us be very clear."
- Two ECI commissioners reportedly objected to the "special intensive revision" of voter rolls, with media reports indicating decisions were made unilaterally by Kumar — prompting petitioners to call for an independent inquiry.
- Protests led by student groups and the Cockroach Janta Party have erupted nationwide; the group's name is a defiant nod to Kant himself, who compared young protesters to cockroaches earlier this year, and one advocate warned the court "this country will burn" if the purge continues.
- Police in New Delhi faced condemnation after hundreds of protesters were forced into police vehicles and journalists detained, with authorities now investigating reports that officers sexually assaulted three journalists at weekend demonstrations.
- Amnesty International denounced the government's "blatant attack on the rights to liberty and freedom of peaceful assembly" following the mass detentions last week.
- Petitioners and protesters alleged the voter roll revision disproportionately targets Muslim voters who oppose Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, with people across Delhi, Bihar, and West Bengal reporting they were wrongly struck from the rolls — some symbolically posed as dead to show they were purged while still alive.
Why it matters: India's top court publicly contradicted the Election Commission's own claims and demanded accountability from Modi's government and ECI chief Kumar over the 130 million names purged. With internal ECI dissent on record and allegations the revision targets Muslim voters, the credibility of elections in the world's largest democracy now rests with the judiciary.
Ask SkimNews
