Polls 2009 : 1.56 lakh voters in Assam, 'doubtful'

GUWAHATI: The Assam electorate has a unique brand of voters. These voters, categorised as ���doubtful��� (D), number over 1.56 lakh. They will not be able to cast their ballot in this election. Their identity is doubtful and the names are yet to be cleared by the Foreigners Tribunal. The names of these voters have been on the electoral rolls for the past 15 years.

The authorities have clubbed them as doubtful on the suspicion that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Assam does not have Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPICs). According to official records, there are about 2370 D-voters in Karimganj, 6565 in Cachar, 3306 in Karbi Anglong, 15237 in Dhubri and 1783 in Kokrajhar.

There are D-voters in Goalpara, Barpeta, Kamrup, Nalbari, Darrang, Udalguri, Sonitpur, Morigaon, Golaghat, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. At present the number of D-voters is 156263 while in the early 1990 s it was around 3.75 lakh. The number has come down as several names have been cleared by the tribunal.