Parakala Prabhakar questions legality of governments elected after 2014
The economist challenged the Union Home Minister's comments regarding deleted voters being illegal infiltrators.
Economist and political commentator Parakala Prabhakar questioned on Tuesday whether legislative bodies and elected governments following the 2014, 2019, and 2024 elections were unlawful. He made these remarks during a press meet organised by the Telangana Voter Rights Forum in Hyderabad, according to The Hindu.
Prabhakar was responding to comments by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who declared three crore deleted voters as illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh. Prabhakar challenged the Home Minister to resign and conduct elections after the purification of the voters list if those claims are true.
The commentator described the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as an exercise to create two classes of Indians by disenfranchising marginalised sections. He noted that while citizens marked as permanently shifted should have increased numbers elsewhere, the number of voters is declining in all states and constituencies.
Prabhakar also stated that five months after a May 27 Supreme Court order seeking a list of illegal immigrants identified in the SIR, even a small list has not been produced. He said the Home Minister should have mentioned the number of illegal immigrants state-wise instead of making flippant comments.
Academic and activist G. Haragopal said that elections lacking credibility will endanger democracy and called for the scrapping of the SIR process. The revision in Telangana has faced allegations of political interference, technical glitches, and systemic flaws, leaving lakhs of voters deleted or wrongly classified as deceased.