Reinhold Niebuhr, an American theologian and public intellectual, famously observed that man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive elections while more expansive or maximalist definitions link democracy to guarantees of civil liberties and human rights, in addition to elections.The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, completed in 14 states and Union Territories, and covering more than 60% of the population, shows a gap of more than 7 crore between the projected 18+ (adult) population and the number of voters on electoral rolls. This includes around 5 crore persons who were on the electoral rolls in 2024-2025, but are now excluded as absentee, shifted, missing, logical discrepancy, etc.These electors were not extended any opportunity of hearing as per Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, because their names – other than those covered under logical discrepancy – were not even included in the draft rolls.While the removal of actual duplicates and deceased voters may have been correctly done, those deleted owing to absence, shifted, logical discrepancy, etc., may well be alive and in all likelihood may have been eligible to vote.This large gap gives rise to a multiplicity of questions, such as:Are the citizens not on rolls voluntarily opting not to get themselves registered?Are the population projections completely off the mark? The persons becoming eligible to vote in 2026 were born three years before Census 2011. Therefore, the reported drops in fertility rates since then do not apply to this category – they had already been born by then.Was the number of deaths in Covid-19 much higher than the projections we have so far? Even then, the rise in mortality rates cannot account for such a huge gap (7 crore) between the actual and projected size of the 18-plus population.Also, when more than 60% of the country’s eligible population has been covered under SIR, have the people marked as absentee, shifted or missing, relocated to the states where SIR is yet to be undertaken? In that case, the average Elector Recorded Percentage (ERP) in all those remaining states should be more than 115% – i.e., at least 15% higher than those who are old enough and legally eligible to vote.Most importantly, what is the status of voting rights enshrined in Article 326 of the constitution, if such people have been excluded who are citizens, 18 years or older and not otherwise declared ineligible?How deletions impact elections?That non-random deletion in SIR may lead to untenable outcomes has been amply demonstrated in the just-concluded West Bengal assembly elections. For instance, it has been pointed out that in Satgachhia assembly constituency, the victory margin was a mere 401 votes but the total deletions were over 26,000. Similarly, in Rajarhat New Town constituency, a margin of 316 votes was dwarfed by over 63,000 deletions. Raina, decided by just 834 votes, also saw a deletion of 23,000. Such instances abound.Gujarat electoral rollsAway from the media glare of the West Bengal SIR and the ensuing litigations, the deletion of voters in Gujarat since the 2024 General Election – proportionally the highest amongst states covered so far (13.4%) – did not draw much attention.In the 2024 general elections, Gujarat had 4.98 crore voters on the electoral rolls against a projected 18+ population of 5.15 crore, giving it an ERP of 96.7%. After the SIR, its ERP has dipped palpably, to 82.8%. Now the state has 4.4 crore voters against a projected 18+ population of 5.31 crore. Thus, nearly one out of every sixth eligible person may have been excluded from the electoral rolls in Gujarat.Though the post-SIR data at micro levels is not readily available, it may be an interesting study to examine the pattern of deletions from a socio-economic and demographic perspective.In the past also, these authors had pointed out the non-availability of requisite data, which the Election Commission is mandated to maintain to examine the health of the electoral rolls. This is supposed to be maintained in Format 1-8, as stipulated in Chapter 9 of the Electoral Roll Manual of the Election Commission of India. The manual provides that remedial measures must be taken for deviations observed in the areas of gender ratio, elector population ratio and age cohorts.It is obvious that the average exclusion rate of 17% for the state as a whole could mean that the exclusions are very high in many constituencies.Amongst major states, after Delhi and Haryana, Gujarat reported the highest net immigration rates in the 2011 Census (Table 7, Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections).The argument of lower than 100% ERP in net emigration states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, etc., due to voters being absent or shifting away can at least theoretically be advanced on this account. But for that very reason, Gujarat ought to have more voters than its population.The only scenario that could justify this significant exclusion, simultaneous with the net immigration assumed, would be the socio-economic conditions in Gujarat deteriorating in the interim, and so drastically as to compel a huge outmigration from the state. However, there is no proof of such an event having occurred in Gujarat.Gujarat local body electionsSigns are increasingly visible that excluding a significant proportion of voters – together with other ongoing developments – could harm the future of democratic participation.In the local body elections in Gujarat, concluded in the last week of April, of the 1,044 municipality seats, 2,624 nagar palika seats, 1,090 zilla parishad seats and 5,234 taluka panchayat seats, the ruling party won 43 municipality, 370 nagarpalika, 52 zilla parishad and 252 taluka seats, respectively, unopposed.This has been seen as a pernicious repercussion of the state government’s Samras scheme, wherein Rs 3-13 lakh are provided as an “incentive” to such villages that develop a consensus (samras) and unanimously decide who its sarpanches and members will be without holding elections. This phenomenon has been commented upon repeatedly (here and here).The unanimity observed in Gujarat local body elections, in all likelihood, may not be the emergence of a benevolent, altruistic psychology among contestants. It is possible that the elite castes may have taken advantage of the Samras Scheme to dominate these elections.It is not our case that such uncontested elections were absent in the past or that they are absent in other states. The matter of concern is the extent of samras panchayats observed in these elections, as mentioned above.Unless checked, the large-scale exclusion of voters and cartelisation of the electoral arena may turn out to be two sides of the same coin – one feeding the other.Future of democracyIt may not be propitious for the future of representative democracy when such significant numbers are excluded from participation in elections, one way or another.Last but certainly not least, in debates centered on political outcomes, the most fundamental issue of deprivation, whether through voter deletions or the expedient of consensus, of the inalienable rights of electors, appears to have taken the backseat.Our previously expressed apprehension that the exclusion exercise may be the thin wedge to deprive people from social security benefits is turning out to be unfortunately prophetic since two tate governments have already proposed (the Indian Express, 13 May) that those deleted from electoral rolls as part of the SIR exercise will not be able to avail government schemes in their states.How far these deletions will be linked to other life and livelihood deprivations across states can only be conjectured.Thus, a large part of the citizenry may get deprived of government benefits as well as their voice, since now they are no more a factor in electoral outcomes. This is indeed inimical to India’s reputation as a proud democracy.Sanjay Kumar retired as Additional Director General of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. N.K. Sharma retired as Director General of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. Siraj Hussain is former Union Agriculture Secretary.