Indian envoy slams Jayapal remarks on voter rolls as interference

Washington: India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, on Thursday sharply rejected Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s charge that New Delhi was purging voters, calling her remarks “unacceptable interference in India’s internal affairs”.

“The remarks by Rep. Jayapal on India’s electoral and political processes are unacceptable interference in India’s internal affairs,” Kwatra wrote on X.

“India is a vibrant democracy, with robust, independent constitutional institutions and a longstanding record of free and fair elections. Always open to constructive conversation with the Congresswoman to dispel her misconceptions,” he said.

Kwatra was responding to a post by Jayapal on Wednesday.

“I am deeply concerned about the actions of the Indian government to purge 130 million people from the voting rolls,” the Democrat from Washington state wrote on X.

“This appears to be a similar playbook to what the Trump Administration is doing here at home to undermine voting rights in a democracy,” she said.

In a follow-up post, Jayapal said “the Indian people — like the American people — deserve free and fair elections” and that she stood with “the Indian people who are engaging in non-violent protests to counter anti-democratic efforts in India.”

Jayapal did not say where the 130 million figure came from, and it could not be independently confirmed from official data.

The Election Commission of India has been carrying out a nationwide Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in phases. The Commission has said lists of absent, shifted, dead and duplicate voters were displayed publicly and shared with political parties, and that anyone whose name was deleted can apply for enrolment at any time.

Born in Chennai, Jayapal is a former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She has clashed with New Delhi before. In 2019, she moved a House resolution urging India to lift communication curbs in Kashmir.

The exchange comes three weeks before the US midterm elections. Progressive Democrats have been increasingly vocal on democracy and minority rights in India, even as a bipartisan majority in Congress backs closer defence and technology ties with New Delhi.

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