91,385 D-voters exist in Assam electoral rolls: CM

Guwahati, Jul 13 (PTI) Assam has over 91,000 'doubtful voters' or ‘D-Voters’ in the state's electoral rolls at present, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed the assembly on Monday. Replying to a question by Congress MLA Nurul Islam, Sarma said that out of the 91,385 D-voters in the electoral rolls, the highest number was reported in Sonitpur at 13,719. Barpeta has 8,081 D-voters, while Udalguri and Nagaon also have over 7,800 names of such doubtful voters in the electoral rolls. The chief minister stated that the process of marking ‘D’ against the names of voters with disputed or doubtful citizenship credentials has been implemented in the state since 1997, according to Election Commission directives. Responding in his capacity as the Home and Political department minister, Sarma said 56,728 D-voters were declared as foreigners by Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs), whereas 831 of those who appealed before the high court were branded as foreigners by the court. Besides, 65,171 D-voters were declared as Indians by FTs, with the Gauhati High Court and the Supreme Court declaring another 42 and three D-voters as legitimate citizens of the country, he added. Replying to another question by the Congress’s Wazed Ali Choudhury, Sarma said the number of D-voters in the state was 1,99,596 when the exercise was first carried out in 1997. He said 2,44,144 cases of D-voters have been sent to FTs so far, out of which 2,05,659 cases have been disposed, and 56,728 persons declared as foreigners. Besides those of D-voters, 1,90,657 other cases have been so far forwarded to FTs by border police. Of these, 1,55,490 cases have been disposed and 1,15,945 persons have been declared as foreigners. Out of these declared foreigners, 31,789 have been expelled, the chief minister added. The concept of ‘D’ voters was introduced in Assam in 1997 by the EC. It prepared a list including those who could not provide evidence in favour of their Indian nationality. D voters do not exist anywhere else in India. The issue of D-voters is one of the most contentious topics in Assam’s political and social sphere. Several elections have been fought over the issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, who are initially marked as D-voters if their names are found in the electoral rolls. Deletion or regularisation of a D-voter is done as per orders of the Foreigners Tribunals and the subsequent judgements by higher courts. PTI SSG NN