India’s Congress terms voter registration notices to Amartya Sen, Shami ‘deliberate’

ISLAMABAD: The opposition in India has criticized the country's Election Commission for serving notices to prominent citizens, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and international cricketer Mohammed Shami, and termed it “a deliberate BJP [ruling Bharatiya Janata Party] tactic.”

Indian National Congress (INC) national spokesperson Dr Shama Mohamed, in a post on X on Tuesday, wrote: “We have already seen that even prominent citizens like Amartya Sen, former Navy Admiral Arun Prakash, and cricketer Mohammed Shami are missing from the lists.”

She said, “If such well-known individuals can be excluded, imagine what will happen to ordinary citizens.”

‘Deliberate BJP tactic’

“This is happening across Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, everywhere,” the INC spokesperson asserted. 

She said, “People who are away from home or unable to fill forms in time are being disenfranchised.”

“This is a deliberate BJP tactic to exclude voters who do not support them.” 

“The Election Commission and ED have become two arms of the BJP,” she said.

‘Columns left blank’ 

As per the Election Commission’s notification, such cases automatically call for a hearing, and the individuals were summoned along with several other similarly placed electors, Indian media had earlier reported

“The Enumeration Form clearly shows that the linkage columns have been left blank by the elector,” the state CEO’s office had said in a post on X.