State vs Centre: Jharkhand's infiltration dispute still pending in Supreme Court

While one waits for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to reveal the data on how many foreign nationals have been finally discovered on Bihar's electoral roll through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), neighbouring Jharkhand grappled with a similar problem last year ahead of its assembly elections and the matter is pending in the Supreme Court.

However, the Jharkhand High Court hearings through 2024 had quite a few revelations. As many six deputy commissioners and superintendents of police (SPs) were asked by HC to probe and conduct ground verification on the alleged presence of Bangladeshis in certain districts. Five of the six DCs/SPs had, in their affidavits to HC, stated that "there is no existence of Bangladeshi citizens in the territory".

The ECI was also made a party in the Danish Daniyal versus state of Jharkhand case and in an affidavit to HC, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jharkhand detailed the robust process followed by it, absence of any credible citizenship-related allegations before it and possession of legitimate government documents by electors. EC sources told ET that there were no elector deletions from the rolls on this ground in Jharkhand. Under watch were the six districts in Santhal Pargana -- Godda, Jamtara, Pakur, Dumka, Sahebganj and Deoghar. All except DC of Sahebganj, in their affidavits "disputed the infiltrators/illegal immigrants in their respective districts". Sahebganj reported only two cases of "illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators within two years".


Factor this: DC Deodhar "submitted that there is no existence of Bangladeshi citizens in Deoghar district", as per the SP of Deoghar's report and held that 'strict vigil' was being kept round the clock through the police department to 'nip in the bud any infiltration from any angle'.

DC Dumka submitted that "all circle officers have got the matter verified and found that there is no information regarding illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators ever received in their offices".

SP Godda gave in writing to the DC "that there is no existence of the Bangladeshi citizens in Godda district as reported".

DC of Jamtara stated that as per the Jamtara SP's report and all the block field officers "no case of infiltration of Bangladeshi persons in Jamtara district have been found so far."

The Sahebganj DC submitted that "two cases regarding illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators within two years have been received".

The Central government had filed an affidavit wherein the stand has been taken that "the issue of infiltration is wide in these six districts".

Jharkhand HC, in view of the "rival stand taken by the State and Centre" sought for a proposal of names for constituting a fact-finding committee on this.

The Jharkhand government challenged this in the SC, which admitted the special leave petition, and allowed the state to not propose the committee members, pending SC hearings. The matter stays sub-judice.

ECI said on July 13 that during house-to-house visits during SIR in Bihar, "a large number of people from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been found" with all documents including Aadhaar, domicile certificate and ration cards. "After proper enquiry to be conducted from 1 Aug till 30 Aug, if found true, such names shall not be included in the final list to be published on 30 Sep 2025," ECI added.