By AFP
Indian election officials have given voters in Bihar state just weeks to prove their citizenship, requiring documents that few possess in a registration revamp set to be applied nationwide, triggering disenfranchisement fears.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the revision of the voter rolls in June ahead of upcoming polls in the eastern state.
It said the exercise will later be replicated across the nation of 1.4 billion people.
According to the ECI, the 鈥渋ntensive revision鈥 was needed in part to avoid the 鈥渋nclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants鈥.
Members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi鈥檚 Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have long claimed that large numbers of undocumented Muslim migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh have fraudulently entered India鈥檚 electoral rolls.
Critics say the overhaul could render vast numbers of Indian citizens unable to vote.
鈥淵ou are being asked to produce documents that very few people have,鈥 said Asaduddin Owaisi, a prominent