‘Unauthorized and uninformed’: India rejects US lawmaker’s comments on voter roll revision
US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said protecting democracies around the world is a vital job and the Indian people – like the American people – deserve free and fair elections. File | Photo credit: Reuters
India on Friday (Oct 16, 2026) dismissed US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapala’s remarks questioning the Electoral Commission’s revision of electoral rolls as baseless and ill-informed and amounting to “interference in the electoral practices of a partner democracy”.
On Wednesday (October 14, 2026), Ms. Jayapal expressed concern over reports of 13 million voter names being removed from draft electoral rolls in India.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, during his fortnightly media briefing, when asked about her criticism, said: “We find the congresswoman’s remarks baseless and uninformed and tantamount to interfering in the electoral practices of a partner democracy.”
“This is an approach that undermines democracy itself,” he said.
In a post on X, Ms. Jayapal said, “I am deeply troubled by the Indian government’s actions to purge 130 million people from the voter rolls,” the first such comment by a US lawmaker on the issue.
She argued that the developments in India appear to be similar to what the Trump administration is doing in the US to undermine voting rights in a democracy.
Ms. Jayapal said protecting democracies everywhere is a vital job and the Indian people — like the American people — deserve free and fair elections.
Her comments came amid a series of protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged poll irregularities.
According to statistics shared by the Election Commission of India, around 7.2 million names were deleted from the nomination papers in the first and second phases, when the SIR was held in 13 states and union territories.
During the ongoing third phase, when the draft lists of 18 states and union territories are being published, the number of deleted voters stands at 6.16 million.
The commission said that if a voter’s real name was inadvertently omitted during the SIR process, the voter could apply for inclusion through the claims and objections process and subsequently through Form 6.
In a post on X on Thursday (15 October 2026), India’s ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, said: “@RepJayapal’s comments on India’s electoral and political processes are unacceptable interference in India’s internal affairs”.
Published – 16 Oct 2026 22:09 IST