An analysis reported by The Wire, based on data compiled by The Hindu, has found that Muslim voters in Delhi were disproportionately flagged for "logical discrepancies" during the Election Commission of India's (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Muslims account for 13.6% of the 97.54 lakh electors on Delhi's draft electoral roll, or approximately 13.3 lakh people, but made up 20.3% of voters flagged for logical discrepancies, according to the analysis.
For every 1,000 Muslim electors on the draft roll, 318 were flagged for discrepancies, compared with 197 per 1,000 non-Muslim electors.
The investigation also found that the flagging process was driven by the ECI's centralised ERONET software rather than Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), who are the statutory custodians of electoral rolls.
More than 33 lakh electors flagged
Of the 97.54 lakh electors on Delhi's draft roll, 33.12 lakh were flagged for notices during the SIR process. This included 13.79 lakh electors classified as "Unmapped with Last SIR" and 19.33 lakh flagged for one or more logical discrepancies under the ECI's guidelines.
Muslims accounted for 7.6% of the electors classified as unmapped, indicating that a higher proportion of Muslim voters had successfully mapped themselves compared with their overall share of the electorate.
The ECI's guidelines specify eight reasons for flagging logical discrepancies. These include mismatches in names, parents marked as "ineligible in the last SIR", five criteria relating to family size or age differences, and a category labelled "no reasons mentioned".
Nearly 60,000 electors were flagged under the unspecified-reasons category, with Muslims accounting for nearly 20% of the group, according to the analysis.
Family-size criteria account for disparities
Five of the discrepancy criteria relate to family structure: "progeny >= 6", "parent age difference >50", "grandparent age difference <40", "progeny age gap <9 months" and "parent age difference <15".
Of the 6.75 lakh electors flagged under family-size criteria, 30% were Muslim, more than double their 13.6% share of the draft electorate.
The disparity was greater in the "Progeny >= 6" category. Of the 1.4 lakh electors flagged under this criterion, 58% were Muslim, more than four times their share of the draft electorate.
National Family Health Survey data indicates that fertility rates have declined across all religious groups in India, although the ECI's criteria include indicators relating to family size and age differences.
The findings raise questions about the design and impact of the automated criteria used in the electoral roll revision. The ECI has not publicly explained the exact parameters used to flag draft electors for logical discrepancies, according to the analysis.