In a significant development the Gauhati high court has directed the Election Commission of India to find out the number of cases of doubtful voters (D-Voters) pending in various Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam and also to ensure that such suspected foreigners name in the electoral rolls are categorized as D-voters debarring them from voting rights.
The court has also directed the state chief secretary to file an affidavit by March 16 clarifying the Assam Government’s stand on the issue of the “D” (doubtful) voters.
There are about 1.56 lakh who have been categorised and marked as 'D' votes in the electoral roll. They will not be allowed to cast their votes until their names are cleared by the Foreigners' Tribunals.
Earlier the court of Justice BK Sharma had issued a direction to the Election Commission on March 8 to ensure that the foreigners are not permitted to cast their votes in the ensuing election in the state. Further, in pursuant to the said order of March 8, the Election Commission had filed an affidavit stating that the Election Commission of India had clearly stipulated in its order of January 5, 1998 that persons against whose names the letter ‘D’ has been marked in the electoral rolls to denote that the citizenship status of such person is doubtful/disputed shall not be allowed to cast their votes and shall also be ineligible to contest any election as long as the citizenship status of such persons is not determined in their favour by the Appropriate Tribunal to whom their cases have been referred.
The counsel appearing for the Election Commission has submitted that persons whose cases are under reference in various Tribunals throughout the State are indicated as ‘D’ voters in the electoral rolls and the said persons are not entitled to cast their votes. But the court observed that there have been instances when such persons after being declared as foreigners by the Foreigners’ Tribunals by invoking the writ jurisdiction of the court, place reliance on the electoral rolls incorporating their names without any indication if they are ‘D’ voters or not.