Three United Nations special rapporteurs have written to the Government of India expressing concerns about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, stating that the exercise may have a disproportionate impact on minority communities.

In their communication dated May 1, the rapporteurs referred to reports that around 52 million names had been removed from electoral rolls across 12 states and Union Territories, with West Bengal accounting for approximately 9.1 million deletions.

They also highlighted concerns that artificial intelligence may have been used to identify alleged irregularities in voter data, warning that such methods could raise issues relating to transparency, errors and possible bias if not implemented with sufficient safeguards.

The letter further noted allegations that voters had been removed because of minor spelling discrepancies and criticised public statements by some political leaders that linked the deletion of voter names with alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.According to the rapporteurs, such rhetoric could contribute to discrimination by conflating Indian Muslim citizens with foreign nationals.

They also referred to reports from West Bengal's Nandigram constituency claiming that a very high proportion of deleted names belonged to Muslim voters, although those reports have not been independently verified in the article.The communication additionally expressed concern about whether affected voters had adequate time to appeal before tribunals.

The article notes that, on May 27, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the Election Commission's electoral roll revision exercise, observing that it advances the constitutional objective of conducting free and fair elections.It also recalls that UN rapporteurs had raised similar concerns during the National Register of Citizens process in Assam in 2018.