Digital Biopolitics and the Algorithmic Disenfranchisement of the Marginalized: A Critical Analysis of Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR)
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) represents a paradigmatic shift in voter registration, leveraging algorithmic design to streamline electoral rolls. However, this paper critically examines the SIR in Bihar, India, and argues that such data-driven governance, far from being a neutral instrument of administrative efficiency, operates as a biopolitical mechanism of systematic exclusion. By mandating specific, often inaccessible, documentary proofs and transferring discretionary power to opaque automated systems, the SIR renders historically marginalized populations digitally invisible and politically illegitimate. Drawing upon empirical survey data collected by SAMAR for the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Bihar chapter and anchoring the analysis in Michel Foucault's framework of biopolitics alongside Safiya Noble's critical theory of algorithmic oppression, this paper challenges the prevailing narrative of digital governance as an unequivocal public good. The findings reveal that the SIR's algorithmic logic produces a modern form of citizenship stratification, wherein entitlement becomes contingent upon legibility to a machine rather than constitutional guarantees. Ultimately, this study calls for a fundamental reorientation of data science praxis, advocating for a justice-oriented approach that prioritizes inclusivity, transparency, and the protection of democratic rights over procedural expediency.
Author: Priyadarshi, Anupam
Institution: Aryabhatta Knowledge University
Language: English
Subfield: Artificial Intelligence
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213925720