拉杰什·罗伊（Rajesh Roy）和鲁奇·巴蒂亚（Ruchi Bhatia）报道：印度反对党正加大压力，要求罢免该国最高选举官员，起因是一项极具争议的选民名册修订工作。
By Rajesh Roy and Ruchi Bhatia India’s opposition parties are stepping up pressure to remove the country’s top election official over a controversial revision of electoral rolls.
由约二十个反对党组成的“印度国家发展包容性联盟”（简称INDIA）的领导人周三在新德里开始会晤，讨论针对此次修订工作的应对策略。此次修订已导致全国选民初稿名册中数百万人的名字被删除。
Leaders of about two dozen parties in the opposition bloc called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance — or INDIA — began meeting Wednesday in New Delhi to discuss their strategy over the overhaul, which has removed millions of names from draft voter rolls across the country.
许多与会者在各自的邦内是政治对手，其中包括印度国民大会党的拉胡尔·甘地（Rahul Gandhi）和索尼娅·甘地（Sonia Gandhi）、草根国大党的玛玛塔·班纳吉（Mamata Banerjee），以及印度国家人民党的特贾斯维·亚达夫（Tejashwi Yadav）。
Many of those attending are political rivals in their home states. They include Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi of Indian National Congress, Mamata Banerjee of Trinamool Congress and Tejashwi Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal.
上周有媒体报道称，选举委员会的其他成员曾对首席选举专员吉安什·库马尔（Gyanesh Kumar）领导下做出的一些决定表示反对，此后针对他的批评声浪愈演愈烈。选举委员会则表示，全国范围的修订工作是经一致批准的。
Criticism of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar intensified after a media report last week said other members of the poll body had objected to some decisions taken under him. The Election Commission has said the nationwide revision was unanimously approved.
这场争议使这个负责监督全球最大民主国家选举的机构受到了更严格的审视。领导INDIA联盟的国大党要求总理纳伦德拉·莫迪（Narendra Modi）、内政部长阿米特·沙阿（Amit Shah）以及库马尔辞职。该党周二表示，在所谓“窃取选票”的内幕曝光后，莫迪和沙阿已“没有道德权利”继续留任。
The dispute is drawing greater scrutiny to an institution that oversees elections in the world’s largest democracy. The Congress Party, which leads the INDIA bloc, has demanded the resignations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Kumar, saying Tuesday that Modi and Shah had “no moral right” to remain in office following what it described as revelations of vote theft.
国大党还呼吁立即暂停“特别强化修订”工作，并恢复那些被其认为是不当删除的选民姓名。
Congress has also called for an immediate suspension of the Special Intensive Revision and the restoration of names it says were improperly removed from draft voter rolls.
在莫迪政府面临国内外多重挑战之际，包括印度年轻人对就业的不满以及与美国的贸易紧张关系，这场争议为莫迪的竞争对手提供了一个难得的共同诉求。
The controversy gives Modi’s rivals a rare common cause at a time when his government is confronting other challenges at home and abroad, including discontent among young Indians over jobs and trade tensions with the US.
在2024年的全国大选中，印度各反对党联合起来对莫迪发起了强有力的挑战，导致莫迪领导的印度人民党（BJP）未能获得议会绝对多数席位，不得不依靠盟友来组建政府。自那以后，这些反对党一直难以维持内部的团结。
The INDIA bloc mounted a strong challenge to Modi in the 2024 national election, denying his Bharatiya Janata Party an outright parliamentary majority and forcing it to rely on allies to form a government. The grouping has struggled to maintain that unity since.
“经过长时间的努力，反对党终于能够再次团结一致采取行动了，”位于德里的扎基尔·侯赛因学院（Zakir Husain College）的政治学教授拉维·兰詹（Ravi Ranjan）说道。
“The opposition has got an issue to push unitedly after a long time,” said Ravi Ranjan, professor of political science at Delhi-based Zakir Husain College.
这一争议源于《印度快报》（Indian Express）上周的报道：该报道称，在过去10个月里，选举委员会的三名成员中有两人至少14次对选民名单的修改决定提出异议（这些修改包括新增或删除选民信息）。选举委员会否认了内部存在分歧的说法，称不同的意见是委员会正常审议过程的一部分，并强调所有最终决定都是全体成员一致通过的。虽然委员会后来对选民身份验证程序进行了一些调整，但这些改变并未减轻该机构所面临的政治压力。
The controversy follows an Indian Express report last week that said two of the Election Commission’s three members had recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions related to the voter roll overhaul, including the addition and deletion of names. The Election Commission has rejected suggestions of a rift, saying differing views are part of its deliberations and that all final decisions were unanimous. It later eased some voter-verification procedures under SIR, but the changes have done little to quell the political pressure on the body.
这场争议发生在未来几个月内多个关键邦选举之前，其中尤以北方邦的选举最为重要。在西孟加拉邦，今年早些时候的选举前有超过900万人的名字从选民名单中被删除；最终印度人民党以压倒性优势获胜，首次在该邦执政。
The dispute comes ahead of key state elections in the coming months, including in Uttar Pradesh. In West Bengal, more than nine million names were removed from voter rolls before elections earlier this year, which the BJP went on to win in a landslide, taking power in the state for the first time.
反对党指责印度人民党通过删除主要是贫困阶层和穆斯林选民的名字来操纵选举进程——这些选民通常会投票反对莫迪领导的、以印度教徒为主体的政党。印度人民党否认了这些指控，而政治分析人士对于此次选民名单修改对西孟加拉邦选举结果的影响也存在分歧。
Opposition parties had accused the BJP of manipulating the process by removing mainly poor and Muslim voters, who typically vote against Modi’s Hindu-dominated party. The BJP denied the allegations and political analysts were divided about the influence of the SIR exercise on the West Bengal results.
然而，要罢免选举委员会主席库马尔（Kumar）要比发起针对他的政治运动困难得多：只有获得议会两院压倒性多数的支持，才能实现这一目标。
Removing Kumar, however, would be considerably harder than mounting a political campaign against him. The chief election commissioner can be removed only with the support of a large majority in both houses of Parliament.
“反对党可以通过法律途径对库马尔提出弹劾动议，但票数不足以达到预期结果，”兰詹说。他补充称，这使得抗议和示威成为施加压力的另一种方式，对几乎没有法律追诉渠道的公民社会团体尤其如此。
“The opposition has a legal recourse to bring an impeachment motion against Kumar but doesn’t have the numbers to get the desired results,” Ranjan said. That leaves protests and demonstrations as another way to build pressure, particularly for civil society groups with little legal recourse, he added.
这场运动也得到了青年主导的蟑螂人民党的支持。该党威胁称，将于周五在孟买发起全国性抗议。今年早些时候，该组织还支持了由Z世代主导的抗议活动，抗议考试中的违规问题，最终促使印度教育部长辞职。
The campaign has also drawn support from the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party, which has threatened nationwide protests starting Friday in Mumbai. The group was also behind the Gen Z-led protests over exam irregularities earlier this year that led to the resignation of India’s education minister.