New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) has condemned the deletion of the name of R. Rajagopal, former editor of The Telegraph from the electoral rolls and the subsequent non-renewal of his passport by authorities.In a statement issued on Sunday (June 28), the EGI demanded that Rajagopal’s identity as a voter be restored at the earliest.“The Editors Guild of India condemns the manner in which Mr R. Rajagopal, a former Editor of The Telegraph, a leading Kolkata-based daily, is being treated by the bureaucracy that gets to decide who is an Indian citizen and who is not,” said the EGI statement issued by its president Sanjay Kapoor, general secretary Raghavan Srinivasanand treasurer Teresa Rehman.“Mr Rajagopal, despite decades of work in the public domain as a journalist and editor, today finds himself not only disenfranchised as a voter due to the deletion of his name from the electoral rolls, but also unable to renew his passport since more than 100 days, allegedly due to an ‘adverse report’ from the Kolkata Police, who must have been very familiar with Mr Rajagopal as the Editor of one of the city’s leading dailies,” added the statement.Statement on the Denial of Electoral and Passport Rights to R. Rajagopal pic.twitter.com/xa4kJij9Tw— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) June 28, 2026The EGI statement added that the police verification appears to have been denied on the basis that Rajagopal’s name no longer figured on the electoral rolls.“Mr Rajagopal’s plight highlights the misery that millions of Indians are being put through due to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls being carried out by the Election Commission of India,” said the EGI.‘Restore Mr Rajagopal’s identity as a voter at the earliest’The EGI statement said that if this could happen to someone like Rajagopal, who is a known public figure, the fate of others who have similarly been disenfranchised by a bureaucratic stroke of the pen, and lacking the voice to seek redressal can only be imagined.“The EGI calls on the EC to display common sense – and sympathy – and restore Mr Rajagopal’s identity as a voter at the earliest – and extend similar consideration to all those who have suffered a similar fate,” said the EGI in its statement on Sunday.In a piece for The Wire, Rajagopal has highlighted his plight ever since his name was deleted from the electoral rolls, as a result of which he couldn’t vote in the West Bengal assembly elections earlier this year. Subsequently, officials cited the deletion of his name from electoral roles as reason to not renew his passport, as a result of which Rajagopal also missed the wedding of his daughter in the US.