In A Muslim-Majority Mumbai Suburb, Voters Submitted SIR Voter Forms. Then They Were Declared Absent

Despite SIR Receipts, Muslim Voters in Mumbai’s Malvani, Ambujwadi Slums Missing From Draft Electoral Roll

Residents of two working-class Muslim-majority settlements in Mumbai say they completed every step of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, yet still found themselves marked as “absent” or “shifted” in Maharashtra’s draft electoral roll. According to Article 14, which reported the situation in Malvani and Ambujwadi in the city’s north-west, residents filled in their enumeration forms, matched their names to the 2002 electoral …

In A Muslim-Majority Mumbai Suburb, Voters Submitted SIR Voter Forms. Then They Were Declared Absent

Across the working-class slums of Malvani and Ambujwadi, residents did everything they were supposed to—filled out enumeration forms, mapped their names to the 2002 electoral rolls, and received signed acknowledgements from booth-level officers. Scores still found themselves declared ‘absent’ or ‘shifted’ in Maharashtra’s draft electoral rolls, despite official assurances that no eligible voter would be left out.