The Unequal Burden of SIR: Hear from the journalists investigating on the ground across India

Over the last year and a half, arbitrary rules, opaque systems and demands for proof in the process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR), have stripped millions of people of their democratic right to vote. Across the country, over 13.3 crore voters have been deleted from rolls or placed under adjudication. In response thousands have thronged the streets demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s, despite mobility restrictions, internet shut-downs, police brutality and arbitrary mass detentions. The burden of these deletions and proof falls hardest on those at the margins: Muslims, Tribals, women, Dalits, nomadic groups, queer and trans persons, migrant workers, the homeless and those most marginalised. Independent media like BehanBox and The Reporters' Collective have spent months tracking how these rules are being bent and rewritten on the ground, and how those with the fewest resources and the least understanding of the exercise are being disproportionately impacted across the board. What does this exclusion look like on the ground? What barriers are people facing, and where do they go from here? Watch this BehanBox Feminist Election Newsroom conversation with reporters Ayushi Kar, Sanhati Banerjee and Samra Iqbal, who uncover the unequal human cost behind SIR. 🎙 SPEAKERS Ayushi Kar, Data Journalist, The Reporters’ Collective Samra Iqbal, Reporter, BehanBox Sanhati Banerjee, Independent Journalist 🎙 MODERATOR Anjali, Community Manager and Lead of Flagship Projects, BehanBox ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 03:45 Context to SIR Protests 10:53 Ayushi Kar on Softwares, Algorithms and Protocols of Exclusion 23:41 Sanhati Banerjee on SIR and Disenfranchisement in West Bengal 50:55 Samra Iqbal on Hypersurveillance and the Making of the Invisible 55:17 Q&A on Labour, Citizenship and Electoral Politics 01:26:47 Closing 📩 JOIN THE FEMINIST ELECTION NEWSROOM Be part of future conversations: https://forms.gle/zku6cXAj8QrfgPnH9 The Feminist Election Newsroom is BehanBox's initiative to build a collective feminist practice of democratic engagement – tracking, interrogating, and holding power accountable, during elections and beyond. 🔗 ABOUT BEHANBOX BehanBox is a feminist media organisation that interrogates gender and marginality in India to build an India without margins – where power, resources, and dignity belong to everyone. Website: behanbox.com Instagram: @behanbox LinkedIn: BehanBox #SIR #SpecialIntensiveRevision #Gyanesh #ECI #ElectionCommission #CJP #DelhiProtests #CockroachJantaParty #VoteChori #WorkersAndMigrants #SIRAndExclusion #BehanBox #FeministMedia #JournalistsOnGround #RealitiesOfSIR #Elections #WestBengal #DelhiElections