The estimate comes from election specialist Yogendra Yadav. India’s rolls previously listed about 980 million voters. The removals include people whom the governing Bharatiya Janata Party says were deceased, listed more than once, had moved or could not be located. Critics say the process has also struck eligible voters who struggled to meet new verification requirements.

In Bela Slum, a low-income neighborhood beneath a New Delhi flyover, 27-year-old Kanchan said about 500 adults in her community were removed from the roll. She said election staff had visited and she completed a form, but her name was still deleted on the grounds that she had relocated. Kanchan, a single mother who supplements her teaching income with government assistance, said losing her voter listing made her fear that officials might question her access to other services. Her concern is not proof that benefits have been withdrawn; in some BJP-governed states, officials have threatened to remove people from assistance programs if they are struck from voter lists.

The Election Commission, which is overseeing the revision and is formally independent, said after public criticism that the process had been conducted with integrity and that officials would help people restore their names. Sunil Kumar, a senior election official in Kanchan’s constituency, said his department was working to return residents of her community to the rolls.

Activists and legal challengers say some voters have been asked to establish family voting records from decades ago or resolve spelling differences between official documents. Such discrepancies are common in India and, according to experts cited in the reporting, were not typically treated as disqualifying in past roll reviews. Community activist Nasir Malik, who received a notice over a name discrepancy, questioned why it had not prevented him from voting in previous elections.

Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi said the process appeared to reverse the usual relationship between voters and government. Lawyer Kaustubh Chaturvedi, who has filed petitions against the revision, said it placed the burden on citizens to prove their eligibility. The BJP has defended the deletions, while critics, including Kanchan, accuse the party of targeting communities less likely to support it. Those claims are disputed and have not been established as the reason for individual removals.

The effects are especially stark for people who lack birth records or reliable housing. Malika, a Muslim cleaner in New Delhi, said her name was removed after she moved to a different area because she could no longer afford rent. She said no election official visited her new home and that a trip to a local office cost her a day’s wages without resolving the problem. Her voter identification had been one of the few documents she could use to establish who she was.

The stakes reach beyond a single election. For people living in poverty or moving between neighborhoods, losing a place on the rolls can make it harder to exercise a basic democratic right and may deepen fears of being treated as outsiders. Election authorities say reinstatement is under way, but residents and activists say the process must reach people who cannot easily navigate paperwork or take time away from work.