Eviction victims, genuine voters being illegally removed from electoral rolls: Opposition alliance in Assam

Guwahati: The Congress-led Opposition alliance in poll-bound Assam on Sunday alleged that many genuine voters including the victims of evictions are being removed from electoral rolls under the instructions of BJP-led government in the state.

In a memorandum addressed to Chief Electoral Officer, Assam, the Opposition alliance alleged that the genuine voters who are the victims of eviction are being deprived from filing/submitting Form 8 for shifting of residence.

"Such voters are neither allowed to submit online nor allowed to submit offline application only with a view to oust them from the final electoral rolls. Many fake objections are also being filed against genuine voters," it said.

Thousands of families, mainly belonging to Bengali-speaking Muslims, have been evicted from forests and government land across Assam since 2021, when BJP came to power for the second term. Names of those evicted were removed from the electoral rolls in those areas.

They were asked to transfer their votes to the constituencies where they lived before settling in government lands. A BJP leader recently in a press conference said that names of 11,000 voters, who were evicted from forest land, have been removed from electoral rolls.

The special revision of electoral rolls across Assam began in November and the Election Commission released the draft electoral rolls on December 27. The ECI identified 4,78,992 (deceased electors) and 5,23,680 (shifted electors) for deletion.

The applicants were asked to submit claims and objections by January 22 and the final electoral rolls are to be published on February 10.

But the Opposition parties alleged that "illegal, arbitrary and unlawful bulk objections" were filed against the genuine voters mainly on the ground of dead voters and permanently shifted voters.

"Unfortunately, the concerned Electoral Officers (EROs) of the Legislative Assembly Constituencies (LACs) have been issuing notices to the genuine voters in total violations of the provisions of law more particularly Rule 17 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and Clause.11.3.2 (ii) of the Manual on Electoral Rolls, 2023 issued by the Election Commission of India."

The parties are the Congress, Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), Raijor Dal led by MLA Akhil Gogoi and the left parties.

The Opposition parties have decided to contest the Assembly elections slated in March-April together with a target to prevent BJP and its allies from forming government for the third straight term.

"As BJP's defeat in this elections have become certain, the party is trying to remove the voters who do not vote for BJP. Even BJP leaders are using the government offices to file fake objections in order to remove genuine voters," Lurinjyoti Gogoi of AJP said.

Reacting to the allegations, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, rejected the same and assured that the special revision exercise was underway as per the norms of the ECI.