Published Jun 29, 2026 | 10:14 AM ⚊ Updated Jun 29, 2026 | 10:14 AM
R Rajagopal.
Synopsis: The Editors Guild of India asked the Election Commission of India to “display common sense and sympathy” over the exclusion of journalist R Rajagopal from the electoral rolls in West Bengal.
The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Sunday, 28 June, asked the Election Commission of India to “display common sense and sympathy” over the exclusion of journalist R Rajagopal from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the subsequent issue in the renewal of his passport.
“The Editors Guild of India condemns the manner in which Mr. R. Rajagopal, a former Editor of The Telegraph, a leading Kolkata-based daily, is being treated by the bureaucracy that gets to decide who is an Indian citizen and who is not,” the EGI said in a statement.
“Mr. Rajagopal, despites decades of work in the public domain as a journalist and editor, today finds himself not only disenfranchised as a voter due to the deletion of his name from the electoral rolls, but also unable to renew his passport since more than 100 days, allegedly due to an ‘adverse report’ from the Kolkata Police, who must have been very familiar with Mr. Rajagopal as the Editor of one of the city’s leading dailies. The police verification appears to have been denied on the basis that Mr. Rajagopal’s name no longer figured on the electoral rolls!” it added.
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EGI said the issue highlights the misery of millions of Indians following the SIR. “Mr. Rajagopal’s plight highlights the misery that millions of Indians are being put through due to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls being carried out by the Election Commission of India.”
“If it could happen to someone like Mr. Rajagopal, a known public figure, the fate of others who have similarly been disenfranchised by a bureaucratic stroke of the pen, and lacking the voice to seek redressal can only be imagined,” it said.
It urged the EC to restore Rajagopal’s identity as a voter at the earliest.
“The EGI calls on the EC to display common sense and sympathy — and restore Mr. Rajagopal’s identity as a voter at the earliest — and extend similar consideration to all those who have suffered a similar fate,” the statement added.
