New Delhi – The All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA-NAPM), a non-partisan pan-India network of feminist organisations and individuals, has issued an urgent appeal to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to address what it describes as the "systematic decimation and large-scale erosion" of voting rights for women and transgender persons during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls.

In a detailed memorandum submitted to the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners on Friday, the alliance highlighted alarming data from the first two SIR phases across 13 states and Union Territories. The data reportedly shows that 8.9% fewer living voters were added to the updated rolls, with women, transgender persons, and members of minority communities particularly Muslims being deleted in "greater percentages than their proportion in the population." The alliance noted a substantial drop in the Gender Ratio in the Voter List in states such as Bihar, Rajasthan, and West Bengal.

The alliance, which operates under the broader umbrella of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), is demanding a "midcourse correction" in SIR Phase-3.

Key Demands for Gender-Just Reforms

The signatories, a broad spectrum of activists, lawyers, researchers, and historians from across the country including Abha Bhaiya, Ajitha George, Albertina Almeida, Chayanika Shah, and J Devika, have put forward a nine-point agenda to rectify the systemic gaps.

1. Expanding Voter Eligibility
The alliance argues that relying solely on lineage or household documents denies access to marginalized groups, including homeless women, widows, sex workers, survivors of domestic violence, and those displaced by floods or eviction. They have suggested alternatives such as accepting marriage invitations, name entries on children's birth certificates, or ration cards as proof. They also demanded that transgender IDs or gazette notifications be admitted as documentary proof.

2. Addressing Transgender Concerns
The memorandum notes that while many transgender persons entered the electoral roll following the Supreme Court's NALSA Judgment (2014), they remain vulnerable due to name and gender mismatches on documents and estrangement from families. The alliance insisted that the ECI create alternative methods to establish linkage for these individuals and respect the principle of "self-determination of gender."

3. Increasing Timelines and BLO Support
With the current short timelines identified as a "major source of exclusions," the alliance has demanded more time for both voters and Booth Level Officers (BLOs). They have called for "written protocols, anti-discrimination training, travel support and reimbursement" for BLOs, as well as clear accountability mechanisms for wrongful rejection of forms.

4. Revisiting 'Logical Discrepancy' Criteria
The groups have criticized the criteria that flag "name changes" as suspect, calling it arbitrary and discriminatory against married women. Similarly, they argued that the rule flagging less than a 15-year gap between mother and child as suspect is unfair, citing data on teenage pregnancies.

5. Transparency and Social Audits
The ECI has been asked to publish gender-disaggregated booth-wise data and to conduct social audits in collaboration with civil society organizations to understand the scale of wrongful deletions. They also demanded the setting up of separate gender-friendly help desks at various administrative levels to assist voters.

6. Re-admission and Appellate Process
The alliance stressed that those left out should not be forced to fill Form 6, as it constitutes "perjury" for those who are neither first-time voters nor recent migrants. They called for a one-year window for re-admission and a complete withdrawal of the "unconstitutional architecture of Tribunals."

7. Legal Clarity on Citizenship
Finally, the memorandum demanded that the ECI formally clarify that exclusion from the updated SIR list is not a denial of citizenship, aimed at dispelling the "confusion and fear" among voters regarding the link between the electoral revision and Citizenship status.

The signatories concluded that women from marginalized communities, Dalits, Adivasis, and nomadic groups bear an "additional burden of obtaining documents." They hope that the constitutional authority will take serious note to ensure that "no women and transgender persons above 18 years are left out of the voter lists because of the systemic gaps."