The speed of doing this is astonishing for sure, though the article also states that many people were excluded because they didn't have (or refused to have) the

The speed of doing this is astonishing for sure, though the article also states that many people were excluded because they didn't have (or refused to have) the newer voter ID cards (issued after 2018) and also because they had to physically verify the cards due to fraudsters misusing lists obtained from polling stations. Exclusion is a larger issue that negates claims of equality or non-discrimination. Tangentially, and moving a bit off topic, what was surprising to me is that biometrics wasn't mentioned (but I'm sure some influential people, companies and "banks" would soon push for it). In contrast, even though India has large (on paper) programs of direct cash transfers and subsidized food supplies, they're all tied to the exclusionary irrevocable/non-changeable biometric based number (called Aadhaar). That the poorest people would be living and/working in conditions that support destruction or rapid change in biometrics has been completely lost on all bureaucrats and politicians. On paper, alternative identifications are to be legally accepted, but practically nothing moves unless biometric authentication succeeds.