India’s Owaisi Slams Welfare‑Link to Voter Rolls and Census Data Changes

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi criticised the West Bengal government for tying access to public welfare schemes, such as the Public Distribution System, to inclusion in the electoral roll. He said genuine voters marked as “absent” or “shifted” in the Special Intensive Revision exercise were being denied rations and other benefits, arguing that welfare should be a right for all eligible citizens, not a vote‑linked reward.

Owaisi also accused the Union government of compromising the integrity of India’s census by removing key indicators from the latest National Family Health Survey, including data on open defecation and cooking‑fuel use. He warned that gaps in census and survey data could undermine policy planning, delimitation and food‑security programmes, and highlighted concerns that large numbers of names deleted from electoral rolls could lead to long‑term exclusion from welfare benefits.