---
title: "Press Release Resist Linking Voter Id And Aadhaar"
description: "*September 26, 2021 *
Three years ago today, on September 26, 2018, the Supreme Court of India delivered its final judgment in the cases challenging the constitutionality of the Aadhaar/UID programme...."
pubDate: 2021-09-26
author: Rethink Aadhaar
category: Uncategorized
originalUrl: https://rethinkaadhaar.in/blog/press-release-resist-linking-voter-id-and-aadhaar
---

*September 26, 2021 *
Three years ago today, on September 26, 2018, the Supreme Court of India delivered its final judgment in the cases challenging the constitutionality of the Aadhaar/UID programme. In its judgment, the Court circumscribed the Aadhaar project’s scope to a limited number of purposes, finding it constitutional only by reading it down. The Court permitted the use of Aadhaar authentication solely to welfare programmes (where Aadhaar continues to cause mass exclusions) and to link with PAN numbers for income tax (which continues to be extended). 
**Today, more than 500 prominent citizens and organisations **[**have written**](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTQiHSx88Tloj_5N8YeZcTtuxk0WF1pyMyzP4orL0uawl3cOUS6mTsRE90wZuzdPInN4p83t7u0cpj0/pub)** to the Election Commission of India, strongly opposing a fresh **[**proposal**](https://www.firstpost.com/india/election-commission-writes-to-law-ministry-seeks-legal-powers-to-collect-aadhaar-numbers-for-cleaning-up-voters-list-7193941.html)** to the Law Ministry to link voter ID cards (and the "EPIC" database) with Aadhaar, as violative of the Supreme Court's judgment and detrimental to our right to privacy and right to vote, and calling for it to be withdrawn. **
The statement, which calls this proposal a “dangerous idea that can disenfranchise people and fundamentally alter the structure of our democracy,” has been endorsed by 24 campaigns and organisations, including electoral reform group, Association for Democratic Reforms; civil rights groups from across the country including the Peoples’ Union of Civil Liberties, Mazdoor Kisaan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), People’s Union for Democratic Rights, and the National Alliance of Peoples’ Movement (NAPM) Jharkhand; and digital rights groups such as Rethink Aadhaar, Article 21 Trust, Internet Freedom Foundation, the Bachao Project, and the Free Software Movement of India. It has also been signed by 480 prominent individuals, including former civil servants, journalists, lawyers, social activists, researchers, and students. 
The Election Commission has claimed that this will help clean up voter rolls, and that any linkage will be “voluntary”. As previous [representations](https://rethinkaadhaar.in/blog/2019/7/25/citizens-write-to-election-commission-demanding-opposition-to-aadhaar-voter-id-linking-i) have noted, including a recent one made by the [Constitutional Conduct Group](https://constitutionalconduct.com/2021/09/02/ccg-open-letter-to-the-election-commission-of-india-urgent-need-for-updated-accurate-electoral-rolls/), the proposal raises concerns of mass disenfranchisement, increased voter fraud, given the large number of documented discrepancies in the Aadhaar database, and of violating citizens’ right to privacy by enabling voter profiling through the linkage of datasets. 
The right to vote cannot be imperilled by irresponsibly linking databases and using an opaque algorithm to “verify” identities. Technological solutions cannot replace responsible administration. Timely door-to-door verification of voters remains the most effective method of updating electoral rolls and ensuring accuracy of voter data. 
<ul >- *Jagdeep Chhokar*, former Professor and Dean of IIM, Ahmedabad, and a founding member of the Association of Democratic Reforms, said, “The insistence of the Election Commission on linking the voter ID data with Aadhaar is quite surprising, because, in the past, at least two former Chief Election Commissioners have cautioned against this linkage. The UIDAI seems to be pressuring the Election Commission for this linkage, seemingly to gain legitimacy for the Aadhaar scheme. It seems finally the then-incumbent Chief Election Commissioner caved in and agreed to do this. This was stopped by the Supreme Court in 2015 as soon as it came to the attention of the Supreme Court. Now again, the Election Commission, in collaboration with the Law Ministry seems to be trying to circumvent the Supreme Court’s directions, which is inappropriate and not acceptable. It is hoped that the Supreme Court will not take kindly to this attempt to circumvent its instructions, by a sleight of hand, or a play on words.”
- *Reetika Khera,* development economist and Associate Professor at IIT, Delhi, and expert on the impact of technology on welfare pointed out: “Remember that during UPA-2, Aadhaar was peddled as inclusive and transformational for welfare programmes. This was done on the basis of a claim, unsubstantiated at the time and proven false later, that the ration, and NREGA databases were infested with ghosts and duplicates. The same is being repeated now. Where Aadhaar has been forcibly integrated (e.g., in the PDS, NREGA, social security pensions, scholarships, etc.), people struggle to retain or regain access to entitlements. Technocratic unaccountability has been added to bureaucratic red tape, spending money on rectifying demographic errors in the Aadhaar database. They have fallen victim to fraud, and in extreme cases, outright excluded from their legal entitlements. The same issues - fraud, corruption, exclusion - will crop up if Aadhaar is allowed in the voting process in any manner.”
- *Maansi Verma,* of Article 21 Trust said: “The Election Commission’s proposal to link Aadhaar and voter IDs violates the Supreme Court’s judgement, and is detrimental to our right to privacy, and our right to vote."
**READ THE FULL STATEMENT AND LIST OF SIGNATORIES BELOW:**
## **Resist linking Voter ID and Aadhaar!**The Election Commission of India has[ moved a proposal](https://www.firstpost.com/india/election-commission-writes-to-law-ministry-seeks-legal-powers-to-collect-aadhaar-numbers-for-cleaning-up-voters-list-7193941.html) to the Law Ministry to link voter ID cards (and the "EPIC" database) with Aadhaar. This is a dangerous idea which can fundamentally alter the structure of our democracy. 
Rethink Aadhaar joins almost 500 prominent individuals, including former civil servants, journalists, social activists, researchers and students to strongly oppose this proposal, and call on the Election Commission of India to withdraw its plans. The signatories to the statement include electoral reform group, Association for Democratic Reforms; civil rights groups from across the country such as the Peoples’ Union of Civil Liberties, MKSS, Adivasi Women’s Network, Chetna Andolan, and NAPM Jharkhand; and digital rights groups including Rethink Aadhaar, Article 21 Trust, the Internet Freedom Foundation, the Bachao Project, and the Free Software Movement of India. 
Linking Voter ID and Aadhaar is an ill-thought, illogical, and unnecessary move which could undermine our electoral democracy, and impact voters’ trust in the electoral system. Indians’ right to vote cannot be imperilled by irresponsibly linking databases and using an opaque algorithm to “verify” identities. Technological solutions cannot replace responsible administration. Timely door-to-door verification of voters remains the most effective method of updating electoral rolls and ensuring accuracy of voter data.
The Election Commission has claimed that this will help clean up voter rolls, and that any linkage will be “voluntary”. As we noted in our[ earlier representation](https://rethinkaadhaar.in/blog/2019/7/25/citizens-write-to-election-commission-demanding-opposition-to-aadhaar-voter-id-linking-i), and as the[ Constitutional Conduct Group](https://constitutionalconduct.com/2021/09/02/ccg-open-letter-to-the-election-commission-of-india-urgent-need-for-updated-accurate-electoral-rolls/) has recently noted, we are deeply concerned that this will almost certainly lead to **mass disenfranchisement**, could **increase voter fraud**, given the mass discrepancies in the Aadhaar database, and could **violate people’s right to privacy** by enabling voter profiling through the linkage of data sets. This proposal would violate the judgment of the Supreme Court of India in[ Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (retd.) & Anr. v. Union Of India (Aadhaar judgment)](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/127517806/) which limited the use of Aadhaar authentication solely to welfare programmes and to link with PAN numbers for the purposes of income tax. **Any proposal to link the UID with Voter IDs must be rejected. **
**We are concerned about the following harms from such a proposal**
**First, Aadhaar is not proof of the right to vote. **Aadhaar is[ not, and was never meant to serve as proof of citizenship](https://www.news18.com/news/india/aadhar-not-a-valid-proof-of-citizenship-or-domicile-calcutta-high-court-1327791.html), which is why Aadhaar numbers were issued to all residents and not citizens. Under the Representation of Peoples’ Act, only citizens who are resident in India have the right to vote. Linking the two is senseless, and would be without any basis - in addition to being a colossal waste of public funds. Deletion of voters based on whether their records in the EPIC database corresponds to Aadhaar records has no legal basis. 
**Second, such a proposal will almost certainly cause mass disenfranchisement. **This is not the first time that the government has tried to link Voter ID and Aadhaar to “purify” the electoral rolls. In 2015, the Central government introduced the National Election Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP), and during the Aadhaar challenge, the Supreme Court passed an interim order on August 11th 2015, asking the ECI to suspend Aadhaar voter linkage. As this was never permitted by the Supreme Court in its final judgement and order, proceeding with this would be in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgement. Despite this, there was rampant misuse of Aadhaar data. In 2018, the chief electoral  officer of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh linked Aadhaar data with voter identity cards. In 2018, during the Telangana Assembly Election, people found out that[ at least 55 lakh voters](https://thewire.in/rights/lakhs-of-voters-deleted-without-proper-verification-in-andhra-telangana) had been arbitrarily disenfranchised. **It was only after public outrage around these arbitrarily deletions, that the government**[** ****rolled this back**](https://www.livemint.com/politics/news/telangana-voter-deletion-activists-seek-details-of-aadhaar-voter-id-linkage-1551093961654.html)**. **
Previous attempts to use Aadhaar to “clean-up” databases of other government registries, like MGNREGA and PDS, have resulted in mass disenfranchisement, and thousands of citizens have been arbitrarily deleted from systems without any notice. For example, a[ study from Jharkhand](https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bulk-of-jharkhands-deleted-ration-cards-werent-fake-study-shows/article30873572.ece) found that 90% of ration cards cancelled as “bogus” during Aadhaar linking were real. In 2018, even the CEO of UIDAI[ admitted](https://www.thequint.com/news/india/uidai-ceo-admits-aadhaar-authentication-failure-rate-12) that authentication failure for government services was as high as 12% - this translates into *millions* of affected persons. A recent J-PAL study in Jharkhand also[ found that](https://thewire.in/rights/aadhaar-pds-ration-cards-jharkhand-jpal) Aadhaar based verification “either did not reduce errors of inclusion or leakage or did so at the cost of increased exclusion error”, with a high error rate of between 22% and 34% of reduced disbursals. Once lost, Aadhaar has been found to be [almost impossible](https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/flaw-in-aadhaar-architecture-uidai-card-enrolment-7389133/) to retrieve; whereas for voter IDs there are simpler and more well defined ways to replace a misplaced voter ID card. 
**Third, such a proposal is more likely to *increase* voter fraud. **Linking Aadhaar would dilute the sanctity of the Voter ID database. As we pointed out in 2019, [self-reported errors](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b7cc54eec4eb7d25f7af2be/t/5bab8782104c7bbff39942b9/1537968018323/State-of-Aadhaar-Report_2017-2018.pdf) in Aadhaar data are reportedly *one-and-one-half times higher *than errors in the electoral database. The assumption behind the proposal to link the two databases is that the authenticity of people’s records in the Aadhaar database will be used to determine the authenticity of a record in the Voter ID/ EPIC database. **However, given widespread data quality issues in the Aadhaar database, this  exercise would diminish the sanctity of records in the Voter ID database**. Data quality issues in the Aadhaar database – a result of inadequate enrolment practices and lack of effective correction mechanisms – have been extensively documented - including [fake entries](https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/aadhaar-card-fake-biometric-id-up-stf-uidai-1042016-2017-09-11) and [incorrect details](https://scroll.in/latest/855731/everyone-in-this-uttarakhand-village-has-the-same-birth-date-on-their-aadhaar-cards). The UIDAI has itself admitted this, before various courts, and multiple Courts have refused to accept Aadhaar as proof of birth, or of identification. More recent research has also shown that Aadhaar-PAN linking has[ introduced](https://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2020_55/35/SA_AnupamSaraph24Aug2020_Pages_54-62.pdf) fraudulent entries into the system.
**Fourth, Biometric authentication for voting must not become a requirement. **There are[ numerous reports](https://rethinkaadhaar.in/blog/2019/1/1/more-aadhaar-related-starvation-deaths-reported-in-jharkhand),) of starvation deaths across states due to a lack of Aadhaar linkage, biometric failures, absence of adequate infrastructure and lack of adequate grievance redressal mechanisms in UIDAI’s implementation which has been painstakingly exposed by the Right to Food campaign. Fingerprints don't work for many people, especially those who work with their hands and older persons, and facial authentication is inaccurate and error-prone. The UIDAI has sought to circumvent the inaccuracy and issues in biometric authentication through an ill-conceived "nominee system", and OTPs in the case of welfare programs. How will this work in the case of voting? Will we have to send family members to vote instead, if our fingerprints don’t work? It’s also pertinent to mention that election booths are sometimes set up in remote locations, where voting has to be processed manually. Even EVMs are not connected to an internet connection, to prevent any kind of tampering. In such locations, how will biometric verification work in absence of the internet? 
**Fifth, linking these two databases would be an attack on the right to privacy, and scope for misuse. **We have serious concerns that such a proposal would violate our constitutional and fundamental right to privacy, and the secrecy of the vote. India currently has no data protection law, and the current personal data protection bill has wide exceptions for the government. Any attempts to link Aadhaar to the voter IDs, would lead to demographic information which has been linked to Aadhaar, being linked to the voter database. **This creates the possibilities for disenfranchisement based on identity, of increased surveillance, and targeted advertisements and commercial exploitation of private sensitive data. **In 2019, the[ Cambridge Analytica scandal](https://www.wired.com/amp-stories/cambridge-analytica-explainer/) demonstrated the disastrous impact that deep and invasive voter profiling had on individuals and on democracies. We have seen this in India: most recently, the Madras HC has asked the Election Commission to look into allegations against the Bharatiya Janata Party[ that it was illegally using Aadhaar data of voters](https://scroll.in/latest/990652/bjp-accused-of-stealing-aadhaar-data-in-puducherry-for-poll-campaign-madras-hc-expresses-concern) in Puducherry for making political gains in the Assembly elections. In 2019, an[ investigation](https://www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/hacking-democracy-stolen-aadhaar-voter-deletion_in_5cb9afa2e4b068d795cb870c) revealed that data could have been taken from the UID database in order to delete voter names in Andhra Pradesh - names were taken from the voter lists. This could be particularly harmful against minorities - a 2018 report found that 20% of Muslim adults [were missing](https://scroll.in/article/875765/interview-sachar-committee-researcher-claims-13-3-voters-missing-in-karnataka-electoral-rolls) from electoral lists in Karnataka. We have learnt from other countries how a single form of identification for voting, leads to[ greater disenfranchisement.](https://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/peace/democracy/des/voter-identification-requirements.pdf) In some cases, onerous identity requirements are used to block disenfranchised persons from voting.
**Finally, we cannot trust the ECI’s promise of “voluntariness”.** The ECI’s claim that this would be based on "voluntariness". This is a grossly inadequate safeguard. We have seen how throughout the Aadhaar project “voluntary” on paper translates to a coercive mechanism in practice; and how this changes with time and in practice.
**Any proposal to link the UID with Voter IDs must be rejected.**
**I. Organisations **
<ol >- Adivasi Women's Network
- Association for Democratic Reforms  
- Article 21 Trust 
- The Bachchao Project
- BlockSurvey, Inc. 
- Center for Women and Children Solidarity Network 
- Forum Against Oppression of Women 
- Forum for Electoral Integrity 
- Free Software Movement of India 
- Honavar Foundation 
- Internet Freedom Foundation 
- J&K RTI Movement 
- Maadhyam 
- Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) 
- NAPM, Jharkhand 
- National Platform for the Rights of the Disalbed 17. Oddjoint Art 
- OpenSpace 
- People's Union for Civil Liberties 
- People's Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka 
- People's Union for Civil Liberties, Maharashtra 
- People's Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan
- People’s Union for Democratic Rights (signed by Radhika Chitkara, Vikas Kumar, Secretaries) 
- Rethink Aadhaar 
- Socialist Party (India) Telangana 
**Individuals **
<ol >- Aarti
- Aavishkar Rangari
- Abani K Bhuyan, PSU 
- Abbasbhai
- Abdul
- Abha Rao
- Abhayraj Naik, Azim Premji University
- Abhi
- Abhijit Nagendranath
- Abhijith S
- Abhilash Paul
- Abhimanyu Chandra
- Abhishek Gupta
- Abhishek Sagar
- Abhradip Acharya
- Adaikala Regan
- Aditi Chowdhury
- Aditi Mehta, Constitutional Conduct Group
- Aditi P. Kaur
- Aditya Banerjee, Conservation Initiatives
- Aditya Panwar
- Aditya Vikram
- Adv. Manoj, Manoj Harit & Co 
- Adv. Milind Babar
- Advait Dharap
- Afreen Khan
- Afried Raman
- Agnibesh Mukherjee
- Ahesanali
- Ajesh Narayanan
- Alagammai
- Alstrin Cyrus, Kofluence
- Alwyn D'Souza
- Ameya
- Ameya Kelkar
- Amina Yasmeen
- Amit kumar
- Amit Prakash Ambasta
- Amitadyuti Kumar, APDR 
- Amitava Choudhury, Information and Action for Peoples' Right
- Amogh Barakol
- Amrita Johri, SNS 
- Amrita Shodhan
- Anand Arni
- Ananya Jain
- Aneesh Correa
- Angela
- Anil Sadgopal, All India Forum for Right to Education
- Anilkumar
- Anirudh
- Anita Das, Infosys
- Anjali Bhardwaj, SNS
- Ankita Aggarwal
- Annapurna Menon, University of Westminster
- Annie T
- Anubhav
- Anupama Datta, HelpAge India
- Anushka
- Anwesha Bhattacharya, Harvard Kennedy School
- Apurva Bamezai
- Archana Dwivedi
- Archismita Choudhury, Internet Freedom Foundation
- Ardhendu Sen
- Arnav Mathur
- Aroon Mohan
- Aroon Raman
- Arun Agnihotri
- Arun I
- Aruna Burte
- Aruna Rodrigues
- Arundhati Dhuru, NAPM
- Arup Kumar Sen 
- Arvind
- Ashish Asgekar
- Ashish M
- Ashok Choudhary, AIUFWP
- Ashok Nehru
- Ashok Sharma, Constitutional Conduct Group
- Ashwin Santhosh
- Ashwini
- Ayush
- Ayushi
- Baba Fakruddin
- Balaji
- Bandish Soparkar
- Barath N
- Beena Choksi
- Bernard D'Mello
- Bharat Varma
- Bharati Jagannathan
- Bhaskar
- Bidisha M
- Bishakha
- Bishakha Bhanja
- Boma
- Brindaalakshmi K
- Brinelle D'souza
- Britts
- C B
- C. Balakrishnan, Retired from the Govt of India
- Chaitali Dixit
- Chandrasekar R
- Chantal
- Chayanika Shah, Forum Against Oppression of Women
- Chetan
- Chhavi Sachdev
- Daniel Umi
- Danish Mukadam
- David Bodapati, The Cedars
- Deb Mukharji
- Deepak Kaushik
- Deepak Sanan, Constitutional Conduct Group 
- Deepthi
- Denice Mathew Thomas
- Deonis Baghwar
- Derick
- Divij Joshi
- Divya
- Divyangi
- Diwan Singh
- Dr V Rukmini Rao
- Dr.  Yogitha S, GFGC,  Saragur
- Dr. Mira Shiva
- Dr. Shakeel
- Dr. Suvajeet Duttagupta
- Dr. Tony PM, Social Research and Training Centre Ranchi
- Dr.Deepak Viswanath
- Dr.Sudhir Vombatkere
- Dunu Roy, Hazards Centre
- Eesha
- Elsa Muttathu
- Fareeha Jabeen
- Firoz Ahmad
- Francis Colaso
- Francis Parmar
- Gabriele Dietrich, NAPM 
- Garima
- Gaurav
- Gautam Chaudhury
- Gautam Mukhopadhaya
- Gautam Sonti
- Gayatri Singh, Sr Advocate, Bombay High Court
- Geo Peter Tharappel
- Gopal Krishna Pillai, Rerd. Government Officer 
- Gopalan Balagopal
- Goutham
- Gudu Sharma
- Hamid Ansari
- Hannan Mollah, All India Kisan Sabha
- Hardik
- Harikumar TP
- Haritha P.E
- Hemal
- Himan
- Himmat Singh Ratnoo
- Hiren Gandhi, Darshan 
- I Pillai
- Ibrahim
- Imrana Qadeer
- Indranee Dutta
- Irfan Engineer
- Ishwari
- Jagdeep Chhokar
- Jahnavi Visvanathan
- Jairus Banaji
- James Herenj, Convenor, Jharkhand NREGA Watch
- Jaskaran Singh
- Jayan
- Jayati Ghosh, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
- Jibraan Mansoor
- Jitesh Gautam
- Jittu Varghese
- John Varghese
- Jomy Joseph
- Joseph
- Jyoti Punwani
- K Paul
- K S Gopal
- K. Sudhir, Peoples' Architectural Commonwealth 
- Kabir
- Kalyani Menon Sen, Independent researcher
- Kamayani Bali Mahabal
- Kannalmozhi Kabilan, The New Indian Express
- Karan
- Karan Garg
- Kartar K Sainani 
- Karthik Govil
- Karthik Narayana V, Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management
- Kaushik Tadvi
- Kaushiki Rao
- Kaustubh Mangam
- Kavita Srivastava, People's Union for Civil Liberties
- Keerti bhandary
- Kiara
- Kingshuk Dasgupta
- Kingshuk Roy
- Kinshuk Goyal
- Koninika Ray, National Federation of Indian Women
- Krishnadarsan
- Kumkum Roy
- Laavanya, LibTech India
- Lakshmi Venkatesan
- Lapanoha
- Lavneet
- Leon Morenas
- Lizmary BC
- M B Nataraj
- Madhava Prasad
- Madhu Bhaduri
- Madhura Chakraborty, Activist
- Madhura Padhye
- Mahinder Pal singh
- Mahua Kamat
- Malaika Mathew Chawla
- Malay Tewari, CPI (ML) Liberation 
- Malvika, Matterhorn Projects LLP
- Manan
- Manpreet
- Mansi Mehta
- Manu
- Maqbool Saleem
- Maria Aurora Couto, Writer
- Mayuresh Vaidya
- Meena Gupta
- Meera Dewan
- Meera. R
- Megha
- Megha Singh
- Melroy C F Fernandes
- Mit
- Mohini Mullick
- Mona Ambegaonkar
- Mrinalini Nayak
- Mubeen
- Mukesh
- Mukesh Malik
- Mukta Srivastava 
- Murugu
- Nafisa Barot, Utthan 
- Nakul Kishore Dumblekar
- Nandini Nayak, Ambedkar University Delhi
- Narayan Rao
- Nasruddin Shaikh
- Natashia Gonsalves, SUCDEN
- Navamita Chandra
- Navdha Malhotra
- Naveen Purushothaman
- Nayonika Bose
- Nazar Mohammad Shavadi
- NB Murthy
- Neela D’सूजा
- Neelakantan
- Neha
- Neha Chopra
- Neha Das
- Neil Fernandes 
- Nidhi
- Nihar
- Nikhil
- Nilanjan Dutta
- Nimmi
- Niranjani Iyer
- Nirvan, WIPRO
- Nisha Biswas
- Nishant Kumar
- Nishi Sharma
- Nitin
- Nivedh
- Omkar
- P Chaudhuri
- P K Mahesh
- P. R. Dasgupta, IAS Pensioner
- Padma Srinivasan
- Padma Velaskar
- Pallavi Sobti Rajpal
- Parampath Joy Oommen
- Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Independent journalist, author, publisher, documentary film-maker and teacher
- Paras Katiyar
- Parmu Singh
- Parul Soni
- Pascal Alan Nazareth
- Pat
- Pervin Jehangir
- Phani
- Philip Pinto
- Piyush
- Pooja Monani
- Poorna
- Praavita
- Prabhat Patnaik, Jawaharlal Nehru University
- Pracheta
- Prajit Basu
- Pranami Rajb
- Prasad Chacko
- Praveen, Times
- Preeti Sampat
- Prema
- Primus Kerketta
- Pritha Taraphder
- Priti
- Pritom Ghosh
- Priyam
- Priyanka Singh
- Priyesh Pavithran
- Procheta Mallik
- Prof. K Satchidanandan, Indian Writers Forum
- Prof.Mohan Rao
- Purwa Bharadwaj
- Pushkar Raj
- Pushpendra, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
- R K Grandhi
- R Ravishankar
- Rabin Chakraborty
- Radha Holla
- Raghavendra Rao
- Raghunandan Hegde
- Ragvendra Gadage
- Rahul Nair, Delhi University
- Rahul Saunik, Quikr India Private Limited
- Rajdeep Singh Puri
- Rajendran Narayanan, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Rajesh Krishnan
- Rajesh Mehar
- Raju Sharma, Retired Civil Servant
- Rakesh Shekhawat
- Rakhi Sehgal
- Ram
- Ramani Atkuri, Public Health Professional
- Ramani Venkatesan, Retired Civil Servant
- Ramesh Tikamdas Bajaj
- Ramyak Rohan Mohanty
- Ranabir Chakravarti
- Ranjeet Verma
- Raufa Shaikh, Students for Liberty
- Ravi Theja
- Revathi
- Ricky Saldanha
- Rishav Kundu, IIIT Hyderabad
- Rita Puthenkalam
- Riyaz
- RK Singh, Save Democracy
- Rohan Mathew
- Rohini Hensman
- Rohini Lakshané
- Rohith
- Roja Mathew
- Romar Correa, University of Mumbai
- Roop Kaur Brar
- Rosamma Thomas
- Roshan
- Raju
- Rudi Warjri, Constitutional Conduct Group
- Rupa
- Rupsa Mallik
- S Bharatwaj
- S.Durga Bhavani
- Sabih Ahmad
- Sadhna Arya, University of Delhi
- Sagar
- Sahil Gupta
- Sakina Dhorajiwala, LibTech India
- Samali Banerjee
- Sameet Panda, Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhijan
- Samrudha Surana
- Samyak Jain, Advocate
- Sandeep Kumar Pattnaik
- Sandeep Manudhane
- Sandeep Yadav
- Sandhya Gokhale, Forum Against Oppression of Women
- Sandip
- Saniya Khan Golandaz
- Sanjay Palshiakar, University of Hyderabad
- Sanjay Upadhyay, SWORD
- Sanket
- Sanketh D S
- Sarada Mahesh
- Sarath, Motherleaf
- Sarika sinha
- Sarosh
- Satyabhama, IAS Retired CMD NSC Ministry of Agriculture
- Saudha Kasim
- Saumya
- Saumya Kaul
- Sautabh
- Sayantan Chaudhuri
- Shadab Ahmad
- Shahvir Aga
- Shaleen Jain
- Shankar Gopalakrishnan, Chetna Andolan, Uttarakhand
- Shantha Sinha
- Sharachchandra Lele
- Sharad Chandra Behar
- Sharada Ganesh
- Shardul Gopujkar, Parichay Legal Clinic
- Shashi
- Sheetal Fernandes
- Shekar
- Shevon  Abraham Samuel
- Shewli Kumar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
- Shilpaa Anand, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus
- Shirish B Patel, Shirish Patel & Associates
- Shiv
- Shivangi, Amity Law School, Delhi
- Shivani Yadav
- Shobhit Sinha
- Shounak Dewal
- Shubham
- Siddharth K J
- Sikandar Warsi
- Simrandeep
- Siraj Dutta, Right to Food Campaign Jharkhand
- Snehan Kekre, Streamlit, Inc
- Solomon
- Sonia Soni, SK Finance Ltd. 
- Sowjanya Chandrasekhar
- Sowmya Dechamma, UoH 
- Soumya Chakraborty
- SP Ambrose, Constitutional Conduct Group 
- Spandana L P
- Sravya D
- Sreechand
- Sreedev Krishnkumar
- Sreeharsha Thanneeru, Rythu Swarajya Vedika
- Srishti
- Srujana Bej
- Stuti Guha
- Subhodip Mukherjee
- Sudeshna Sengupta
- Sudha N
- Sudipto GhoshSuhail Ahmad
- Suhas Kolhekar
- Suhasini Mulay
- Sujata Patel, Kerstin Hesselgren Visiting Professor, Umea University
- Sujay Monga
- Sujay Naik, Zephyr
- Sukla SenSumender
- Sunaina
- Sundar Burra, Member, Constitutional Conduct Group
- Sunil Thamizh Kumar
- Suprateek Bose
- Suranjan Sinha, Independent researcher
- Susan Dhavle
- Sushant
- Swati Bishnoi 
- Swati Narayan, Right to Food Campaign
- Syed Ali Mujtaba
- Syeda Hameed, Muslim Womens Forum
- T Ramakrishnan
- Taj Aingh
- Tamanna Khan
- Tanima Xavier
- Tarangini, Azim Premji University
- Teesta Setalvad
- Tony, ATC
- Tousif Tamboli
- Tushar
- Uma Shankari
- Upendra R
- Usha Raman, University of Hyderabad
- V.P.Raja, Retd. IAS officer
- Vandana Prabha
- Varada Balachandran
- Varsha Harisubramaniam
- Varun
- Vasudha Verma
- Vasundhar, Exceleron
- Venkat
- Veronica Dungdung, Samajik Seva Sadan
- Vicky Rathore
- Vidya Subramanian
- Vidyut Gore
- Vignesh Balaji Velu
- Vijay Bharatiya
- Vijayendra Mohanty
- Vinayak Varma
- Vindhya
- Vinish Gupta, Centre for Holistic Learning
- Vir Bharat talwar
- Vishal Talreja
- Visvanathan V
- Vivek
- Vivek Dandekar
- Vivek Jindal
- Vivek Mathur
- Yash Marwah, Let India Breathe
- Yashasvi Karnena
- Zakir Husain Memaya
- Zishan
- Zuber