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Till the other day I had reason to believe that I was insulated from the slings and arrows inflicted by an oppressive regime on its hapless subjects. My smugness stemmed from the fact that I belong to that protected and despicable species – the bureaucrats, who have been working hand in glove with the governing political class in making life hell for the common citizens, particularly in the last awful decade.

Long ago in the 19th century, Honore de Balzac defined the bureaucracy as a giant machine operated by pygmies. With the passage of time, the pygmies have only become more corrupt, more inept, more indifferent to citizens’ needs and totally servile to their political masters. Unsurprisingly, all members of the Election Commission of India (ECI) are former bureaucrats.

So am I. But nemesis has caught up with me in the form of the SIR (Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls). To be precise, on April 7, I received a notice under Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 informing me that “it has been reported to the undersigned by the BLO that you are not ordinarily residing at the above (my permanent address), it is presumed that you have ceased to be ordinarily resident in the above-mentioned address. Therefore, the undersigned proposes to delete your name from the electoral roll …. on the ground that you have ceased to be ordinarily resident in the constituency.”

The letter goes on to state that in case I have anything to submit in this connection, I should appear before the electoral registration officer on April 15, 2026 at 11 am, failing which the case will be decided without further reference to me.

On receiving the ECI letter, I almost burst a blood vessel in outrage at the brazen fabrication. Significantly, my wife and soulmate has not received such a notice. (Not entirely in jest, she feels that respectability may also be a factor in deciding enfranchisement). Since my superannuation in 2011, I have been living for over 15 years in the same........

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