Telangana's deleted voters: "Hidden danger" in signing forms meant for first time voters

By A Representative
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Election Commission of India (ECI), Delhi, several political activists, including Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey, have objected to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Telengana, offering Form 6 for deleted voters, which they say is “meant for new voters that has self-declaration clause under s.132 of Representative of People’s Act (RPA), invoking punishment if already has been in the voter list at least once."
According to them, “We have been asking for segregated list of deleted re-registered vis-a-vis first time new voters”, yet the demand has “not been heeded”, adding, “We have been asking for restoration of unauthorized deleted voters and not for fresh registration as new voter in Form 6. But this was overlooked.”
Signed by Pandey, Lubna Sarwath, who contested the Telengana assembly elections this year, Chakri S, and Guru Moorthy all belonging to the Socialist Party (India), the letter to the CEC says, there is a “hidden danger for the re-registering voter who is calling for state to prosecute oneself due to false declaration which the re-registering voter is dragged into.”
Pointing out that the “heading of form 6 itself is for new voters or for shifting purpose but not for those who had/have a voter ID and find themselves being unauthorizedly deleted”, they say, now they are being “coerced into filling the new voter form that consists a self-declaration inviting the state to prosecute if filling the Form 6 in spite of having been already a registered voter before.”
Seeking a separate form “with a clear heading for deleted voters who have been advised officially by CEO/ECI to re-register themselves”, the letter states, the ECI should “declare official security and indemnity for all the deleted voters who had been thus far been coerced and misled into filling Form 6”. It wonders why is CEO, Telengana, committing illegalities such as unauthorized deletions of voters of citizens of India and then can further mislead, misguide and coerce innocent citizens into an untruthful self-declaration that implicates self into offences punishable both under Representation of people Act 1951 as well as Indian Penal Code.”

Right to walk, right to livelihood: Clearing footpaths 'can't mean' clearing out the urban poor

By Aseem Mishra* India’s cities are locked in a quiet but intensifying struggle over one of their most contested public spaces: the footpath. For pedestrians, a footpath is basic infrastructure—a strip of ground that should allow people to move safely, independently and with dignity. For millions of informal workers, the same stretch of pavement is a workplace, a source of daily income and often the difference between survival and destitution.

Ample evidence of child labour in South Gujarat's cash rich sugarcane belt: Study

By Rajiv Shah A recent German government-funded study , undertaken jointly by the NGO Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, which mainly deals examines the working conditions of migrant workers in the cash-rich sugarcane zone of South Gujarat, has gone a long way to suggest large scale prevalence of child labour during the harvesting season.

Gujarat Sachivalaya blacklists, denies entry to woman social activist: Will NHRC probe?

By Kantilal Parmar* I have approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking an independent, impartial, and transparent investigation into a serious incident that took place at the Gujarat Secretariat in Gandhinagar on August 18, 2026. The matter concerns social activist and women’s rights leader Chandrikaben Solanki, who, according to the information available to me, was denied an entry pass to the Secretariat when she went there to meet Gujarat’s Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Dr. Manishaben Vakil, to raise an issue concerning social justice.

Counterview

Search This Blog