Tarun Gogoi smells gains after Supreme Court relief to Bengali migrant voters

GUWAHATI: Congress has got a boost after the Supreme Court relaxed the Guwahati HC's five-year voting ban on Bengali migrants from Bangladesh notified as doubtful or 'D' voters on electoral rolls. The February 8 order allowed such voters to participate in polls provided they are covered under the Citizenship Act's Section 6A.

The section, a special provision under the Assam Accord, says any person who came to Assam on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971 and has been resident in Assam and detected to be a foreigner, shall register himself before the registering authority as specified by the Centre in accordance with the rule and if his name is included in any electoral roll in force on the date, his name shall be deleted therefrom on the date of such detection.

It adds a person shall be deemed to be an Indian citizen for all purposes from the date of expiry of a period of 10 years from the date on which he/she has been detected to be a foreigner.

The EC had started declaring voters 'D' after they could not prove their citizenship at the time of verification during the revision of electoral rolls in 1997. Such voters were neither permitted to vote nor contest elections. Presently, there are 1,36,448 'D' voters.

CM Tarun Gogoi hopes to break into AIUDF's vote base with 'D' voters on his side.