New Delhi: A group of Indian scientists, working around the world, have written an open letter calling for the scrapping for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which they say has resulted in mass enfranchisement.Drawing attention to the large number of names that have been removed from voter lists during the exercise, they demand accountability and immediate restoration of deleted voters, who were “wrongfully excluded.” The letter also alleges that the exercise disproportionately targeted people from poor economic background, migrant workers and marginalised communities of the society.The following is the full text of the letter.§Defend Democracy and the Right to Vote!We, the undersigned scientists of India, express our deep concern about the summary exclusion of large sections of the citizenry from electoral rolls through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The right to vote is a fundamental pillar of democracy. The arbitrary or unjustified deletion of eligible voters, particularly among the poor, migrant workers, marginalised communities and other vulnerable sections, strikes at the very foundation of democratic rights. In the legal sphere, the principle of presumption of innocence demands that every person be presumed innocent until proven guilty. By the same logic, no genuine electoral revision can justify depriving citizens of their voting rights by subjecting them to cumbersome procedures, failing to provide adequate safeguards for the restoration of their names to the electoral rolls, and denying them a meaningful opportunity to establish their eligibility. We demand transparency and accountability in the periodic revision of the electoral rolls, the immediate restoration of the names of all eligible voters wrongfully excluded, and effective safeguards to ensure that no citizen is arbitrarily deprived of the right to vote. Democracy cannot survive when citizens are denied their voice. We call upon the ECI and the Government to uphold constitutional principles. We call upon all democratic-minded forces and individuals to come together to defend the right to vote and to protect democracy in the country. Signed by:Dhrubajyoti Mukhopadhyay, Retired Professor, Calcutta University Soumitro Banerjee, Retired Professor, IISER KolkataC.P. Rajendran, National Institute of Advanced Studies, BengaluruGeorge Joseph, Retired from IGCAR, KalpakkamJayant Murthy, Indian Institute of AstrophysicsShrikrishna G. Dani, UM-DAE, Centre for Excellence in Basic SciencesAniket Sule, HBCSE-TIFR, MumbaiDibyasankar Das, INSA, Toulouse, FranceAnindita Bhadra, IISER KolkataSuvrat Raju, International Centre for Theoretical SciencesShashi Mohan Srivastava, Retired Professor, ISI KolkataSitabhra Sinha, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, ChennaiAnvita Abbi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New DelhiDebanuj Chatterjee, University of LillePalash Baran Pal Saha, Retired Professor, Institute of Nuclear PhysicsSuddhasattwa Das, Texas Tech UniversityRajeev Gangwar, UNIST South KoreaSomak Banerjee, University of CalcuttaAvik Ghanta, University of StuttgartAyesha Era Natarasan, Science PopulariserSambit Mukherjee, Dey’s Medical StoresUma Ramachandran, Retired Professor, NIPERAmitabha Basu, Retired scientist, CSIR-NPL, New DelhiMainak Mondal, New York University, USApurbalal Senapati, CIT KokrajharAnkita Das, University of Birmingham, UKThabrez Khan, JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapur Amjad M. Syed, Symmetric Consultancy Services S. Faizi Ecologist, UN Environmental Negotiator T.V. Sajeev, Kerala Forest Research Institute Muralidharan E. M., KFRI, Thrissur Satish Chand Abbi, IIT DelhiNilabhra Mukherjee, TCSAmber Habib, Shiv Nadar UniversityMayur Bajaj, Umeå University, SwedenBalasubramanyam, IISc Bangalore Rohit Negi, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyBasudev Bhattacharyya, Retired, Behala CollegeAarini Ghosh, Bangalore UniversityJoseph Makkolil, CUSATK.V. Ravindran, GSI and ISRO, DehradunAnita Banerjee, IISER TirupatiBiswajit Bhattacharjee, IIT DELHISusan Visvanathan, Retired Professor, JNUSuma T. R. Hume, Centre for Ecology and Wildlife BiologySreekumarNirmal DuariV.P. NandakumarAnand RajAnnamalaiShiva AgarwalSidhartha VaradwajArya DuttaRamdas MenonKusala RajendranSourav DasSabyasachi BanerjeeJai Prakash M.Niranjan HiremathSagar SodahAnanta PaulS. ThangasamyOm VarmaRam Mohan VasuArun VirasamShreekumar SangatyaDushyant Kumar SahuS.K. DasAvadhoot Dilip VelankarTaniya GillChandrakant DeokarShanmugsamy R.Kalyan HalderUdita MukherjeePreethi ThomasShivansh SinghScientists are endorsing this statement in their individual capacities. Their views are personal and do not represent those of their respective institutions.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.