In today’s India, some will not be Indians no matter how many documents they possess

There are two processes unfolding simultaneously with the electoral roll revisions in Bihar.

The first is a never-before-seen bureaucratic narrowing down in how voters get to stay on the rolls in Bihar and obtain the correct identity documents. At the same time, it is proving impossible to satisfy the bureaucratic remit of documentary proof in this election and beyond.

As has been made clear by the list released by the Election Commission on Sunday of the 65 lakh names that had been removed from the draft roll, the Special Intensive Revision is likely to lead to large-scale disenfranchisement. It can be seen as part of a broader trend by the Indian state to create a new category of “extraordinary citizens” who stand apart from mere “ordinary residents”.

“Ordinary residents” might even possess the correct documents and identity documents from Aadhar to ration cards but their belonging and “true Indianness” will always be suspect.

Extraordinary citizens are Indians who have ticked every box of proving their belonging and their right to vote not just in the documentary and procedural senses but also socially, politically and ideologically.

Extraordinary citizens and ordinary residents

Until recently, India’s electoral regime has been characterised by a laudable anxiety and democratic imagination to ensure that the election authorities planned for voters’...

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