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Jun 12, 2026
Jayati Ghosh
Under the guise of routine voter-roll maintenance, India’s Election Commission has purged tens of millions of voters, disproportionately affecting opposition strongholds, the poor, and Muslim minorities. The result is an electoral system increasingly designed to favor the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
NEW DELHI—India’s citizens are witnessing a remarkable inversion of democracy: a government choosing its voters rather than the other way around. Even as public discontent grows across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strengthened its grip on power by manipulating the electoral process itself. The result is a stark reminder of what can happen when institutions meant to safeguard democratic integrity instead work to undermine it.
