’How do you explain the deletion of 130 million names?’ Why Indian voters are on the streets

Anger at electoral roll changes has boiled over, sparking a crisis for Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government

Born into a small village in West Bengal, Shahida Fakir had always taken her vote for granted. That was, until it was suddenly taken away. She presented officials with her Indian birth certificate and family land documents from the village going back to 1962.

Both her parents had been on the electoral roll going back decades, so she showed proof of that too. But when the final revised voter list came out in April, Fakir was not on it.