Freedom of press

India: Editor Loses Voter Status

Is India's voter roll purge stripping citizens of rights or are passport delays being weaponized for political gain?

Published JUN 29

story

Above: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 18. Image credit: Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu/Getty Images

The Spin

Left narrative

This process in West Bengal has already stripped over 27 lakh voters of their electoral rights based on arbitrary "logical discrepancies" like spelling mismatches — and now it's blocking passport renewals too. R. Rajagopal even missed his daughter's wedding abroad because the police sent an adverse report tied to his wrongful deletion. If this happens to a prominent editor, the ordeal for marginalized citizens is unimaginable.

Livelaw The Indian Express

Right narrative

Journalist Rajagopal's case is being weaponized by the Indian opposition to manufacture a fake citizenship crisis that the facts don't support. A passport has never been conclusive proof of citizenship — that's decades-old settled law, not some new government crackdown. Before blaming the administration, the full timeline of when Rajagopal actually applied for renewal needs to be made public.

Sreekumar Ezhuvapadi on X

Dr. Nikhil Anand on X