New Delhi: Several opposition leaders have written letters to the Union and West Bengal governments, and expressed shock over how senior journalist R. Rajagopal – the former editor of The Telegraph – was excluded from the voter list and on the basis of which his passport renewal has been stuck. The matter came to light following Rajagopal’s own detailing of his predicament.Meanwhile, the Press Club of India, which joined the Editors’ Guild of India in expressing its surprise over the authorities’ denying a passport to Rajagopal, also revealed that journalist Samrat Choudhury too has been deprived of a passport on grounds of an ‘adverse police report’.In a letter to Union external affairs minister S. Jaishankar on Monday (June 29), Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP in Rajya Sabha John Brittas expressed concern over the authorities’ handling of Rajagopal’s case, saying it raises fundamental questions about constitutional due process, statutory coherence and the rule of law.“The issue arises from the reported denial of renewal of the passport of senior journalist and former Editor of The Telegraph, Shri Rajagopal Ramadas, solely on the basis of his exclusion from the electoral roll during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, notwithstanding that he was issued an Indian passport by the Government of India in 2005, the same was renewed in 2015, and there has been no change whatsoever in his identity, parentage, address or nationality,” he noted in the letter shared on X.“The communication issued by the Regional Passport Office reportedly records only one adverse circumstance, namely, “Voter list deleted from SIR.” If that indeed constitutes the sole basis for disallowing renewal, the matter deserves urgent reconsideration, not merely because of its consequences for one citizen, but because of the precedent it is likely to establish for passport administration across the country,” Brittas said.Wrote to @DrSJaishankar seeking urgent intervention in the case of senior journalist and former ‘The Telegraph’ Editor Shri Rajagopal Ramadas and urging a clear institutional clarification. This is not just about one passport. It is about the integrity of the Constitution, the… pic.twitter.com/nJekHTDFqH— John Brittas (@JohnBrittas) June 29, 2026Notably, Rajagopal’s incident came to light just days after the Ministry of External Affairs said that a passport is a “travel document” and not a proof of citizenship.Brittas noted that while the ministry has maintained that a passport is not a “conclusive proof of citizenship”, its issuance represents a statutory determination by the Passport Authority under the Passports Act of 1967, and thus should not be deemed insignificant simply because another authority under a different law has made a provisional administrative finding.“Such determination undoubtedly remains open to review or cancellation in accordance with law where fraud, suppression, misrepresentation or other statutory grounds exist. However, until displaced by a process recognised by the Passports Act itself, it cannot be treated as though it never existed,” he said.The CPI(M) MP described the issue as a larger constitutional concern affecting public confidence in the integrity of sovereign documents issued by the Republic of India, and urged the ministry to reconsider the case strictly in accordance with the Passports Act, 1967, and not by administrative findings of an entirely different legal regime.“Such a clarification would not only ensure justice in the present case but would also provide much-needed certainty and reassurance to countless citizens who may otherwise face similar hardships arising from an erroneous conflation of two distinct statutory processes,” he stated.Brittas was not the only opposition leader expressing concern over the issue.Kerala CM writes to West Bengal CMKerala chief minister V.D. Satheesan has written to his West Bengal counterpart, Suvendu Adhikari, urging the government to consider the fact that Rajagopal is a “renowned journalist who has been based in Kolkata for the past three decades”, and also the son of Professor V. Ramadas, who served as state secretary of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in Kerala.“I understand that the adverse report is based on the deletion of his name from the electoral roll under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). While the electoral issue is being dealt with through the appropriate appeal process, I am informed that the police report has had the effect of delaying the renewal of his passport,” he wrote.I have written to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, requesting his urgent intervention in the reported denial of passport renewal to renowned journalist #RRajagopal. According to reports, his passport renewal has been held up following an adverse police verification report from… pic.twitter.com/lfy4ecLI4Q— V D Satheesan (@vdsatheesan) June 29, 2026Other opposition leaders reactCongress MP Shashi Tharoor shared Satheesan’s letter from his X handle, calling the entire episode “an egregious miscarriage of justice”. Trinamool Congress MP and a former journalist Sagarika Ghose termed the incident “shocking” and “heart rending”, while also questioning the silence of mainstream media on the issue. “If this can happen to R. Rajagopal, former Editor of @ttindia, imagine what citizens with far fewer resources are enduring.”“This is what the slow erosion of basic citizenship rights looks like . Even more disturbing is the silence of much of the mainstream media. WHY ARE SUCH HARROWING STORIES being INVISIBILISED,” she questioned.“This is a valuable intervention from one CM to another, which will no doubt get the response that it is a Union government matter and not for the state to handle. But the fact is that whenever there is an egregious miscarriage of justice like this one, all democratic Indians must rally together to stand up for the victims, so that a just solution is expedited more quickly. Such cases (there have been others involving flagrant failures of common sense on the part of the SIR officials) are increasingly becoming an unnecessary embarrassment to the government,” he said.Earlier on Sunday, CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby also posted on X slamming the Union government over the issue. “Right from the outset, the CPI(M) had warned that the SIR exercise would disenfranchise the poor and vulnerable sections of our country. But now, even an editor of repute and an acclaimed journalist like R Rajagopal has been denied his right to vote,” he wrote.Another senior journalist is deprived of a passportIn a statement released on Monday, the Press Club of India while expressing its “shock” over Rajagopal’s situation and calling on the authorities to restore his name in the rolls as well as his passport, revealed that journalist-author Choudhury too has been deprived of a passport.Choudhury, a former editor of newspapers in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, had his passport impounded on the basis of an adverse police verification report earlier this month, it cited him as saying.This, per the Shillong-born Choudhary, is despite the fact that he has held an Indian passport since 1993 and that his name appears in Meghalaya’s voter rolls. He said he was given a renewed passport in 2022 under the Tatkal category, where the police may conduct verification after the document is issued.“No reason was cited for doubting his Indian citizenship status,” the Club wrote, adding that the authorities took away Choudhury’s passport on Passport Seva Divas on June 24.