Who is Pramila Jayapal? Chennai-born US Democrat backing protests in India over SIR, deletion of 13 crore voters

Indian-origin US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has voiced concern over reports of the removal of 13 crore voter names from the draft electoral rolls in India in the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

The Democratic leader's remarks come at a time when India is witnessing massive street protests by opposition parties and student groups, who are demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

"I am deeply concerned about the actions of the Indian government to purge 130 million people from the voting rolls," Jayapal said in a post on X, marking the first such comments by a US lawmaker on the issue.

Remarks amid massive anti-CEC protests in India

The Democratic Congresswoman from Washington state said she supported the non-violent protests to counter “anti-democratic efforts in India.” She said the developments in India appear to be a similar playbook to what the Trump Administration is doing in the US to undermine voting rights in a democracy.

The remarks by the US politician assume significance amid massive protests by Opposition led by Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi against SIR, with demonstrators demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities. Gandhi has led many protests over the issue on the streets of the national capital including the one on 12 October which was attended by thousands of people.

Jayapal said in her remarks that protecting democracies everywhere is essential work, and the Indian people - like the American people - deserve free and fair elections.

"Non-violent resistance movements are essential in these moments, and I stand with the Indian people who are engaging in non-violent protests to counter anti-democratic efforts in India," Jayapal said.

According to statistics shared by the Election Commission of India, around 7.2 crore names were deleted from the draft rolls in the first and second phases when the SIR was held in 13 states and union territories.

During the ongoing third phase, where draft lists of 18 States and Union Territories are published, the number of deleted voters stands at 6.16 crore.

The Commission has said that if a genuine voter's name was inadvertently left out during the SIR process, the voter could seek inclusion through the claims and objections process and subsequently through Form 6.

Who is Pramila Jayapal?

Elected in 2016, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is now serving her fifth term in Congress representing Washington’s 7th District. Jayapal, 61, is the first South Asian American woman elected to the US House of Representatives and one of only two dozen naturalized citizens currently serving in the United States Congress.

Jayapal is seeking a sixth term in the US House of Representatives from Washington state’s 7th Congressional District in the 3 November midterm elections. This time, Jayapal is facing Republican challenger Nirav Sheth, an Indian-American who was born and raised in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, before moving to the US.

Jayapal was born on September 21, 1965, into a Malayali Nair family in Chennai, India, to Maya Jayapal , a writer, and Muduvangad Puthanveetil Jayapal, a marketing professional.

Jayapal grew up in India, Indonesia and Singapore, and came to the United States at the age of 16 to study Georgetown University. She later received her MBA from Northwestern University, worked in a number of industries in both the public and private sectors, and published her first book in 2000, Pilgrimage to India: A Woman Revisits Her Homeland. She has since published a second book, Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman’s Guide to Politics and Political Change, according to her website.

Prior to serving in elected office, Jayapal spent twenty years working internationally and domestically in global public health and development sectors. She worked for over a decade with the international nonprofit organization, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), and spent 12 years as the founder and Executive Director of OneAmerica, the largest immigrant advocacy organisation in Washington State.

As a Congresswoman, Jayapal is also a member of the House Judiciary Committee, where she serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. She also serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where she serves on the Subcommittee on Africa and the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, reads her website.

‘Fighting Trump Administration’s inhumane policies’

Jayapal is a Chair Emerita of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which represents nearly 50% of the entire Democratic caucus; the Chair of the Immigration Task Force for the Congressional Asian Pacific Asian Caucus; and a Vice Chair of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus where she is the co-chair of the Transgender Equality Task Force.

In Congress, Representative Jayapal has been a leader on immigration, including fighting the Trump Administration’s ‘inhumane’ policies of separating children from their parents and crafting legislation to create a fair and humane immigration system, the website reads.

“Non-violent resistance movements are essential in these moments, and I stand with the Indian people who are engaging in non-violent protests to counter anti-democratic efforts in India,” Jayapal said.

Jayapal helped to introduce the THRIVE Act and other legislation to transition our economy to 100% clean energy and address the crisis of climate justice.

(With inputs from PTI)

About the Author

Gulam Jeelani is Political Desk Editor at LiveMint with over 16 years of experience covering national and international politics. Based in New Delhi, Jeelani delivers impactful political narratives through breaking stories, in-depth interviews, and analytical pieces at LiveMint since February 2024. The expertise in video production fuels his current responsibilities, which include curating content and conducting video interviews for an expanding digital audience.<br><br> Jeelani also travels during elections and key political events and has covered assembly elections in key states apart from national elections. He has previously worked with The Pioneer, Network18, India Today, News9Plus and Hindustan Times.<br><br> Jeelani’s tenure at LiveMint and previous experience at print and digital newsrooms have honed his skills in creating compelling text and video stories, explainers, and analysis that resonate with a diverse viewership.<br><br> Before moving to New Delhi in 2015, Jeelani was based in Uttar Pradesh, where he worked for five years as a reporter. In 2018, Jeelani was one of the two Indian journalists selected for the Alfred Friendly Fellowship in the US. There, he attended training workshops on reporting and data journalism, and he was attached to the Minneapolis Star Tribune in Minnesota, where he worked as a reporter.<br><br> Jeelani is a Bachelor's in Chemistry and holds a Masters Degree in journalism and mass communication from Aligarh Muslim University. Outside work, he enjoys poetry, cricket and movies.