Ahead of the critical state elections beginning on April 23, 2026, millions of voters in the Indian state of West Bengal were stripped of their right to vote. The Narendra Modi-led central government utilized a controversial electoral roll revision called Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which deleted 9.1 million names—more than 10% of the electorate. Experts alleged that the exercise deliberately targeted religious minorities, as Muslims and other marginalized groups were disproportionately expunged from the register.
Date: April 22, 2026. Source: theguardian.com