Foreigners on Assam voter list, urgent revision needed: Justice Biplab Kumar Sharma

Guwahati, Oct 11: Foreign nationals contested elections in Assam, while those declared foreigners have managed to obtain passports. That is why there is a need for intensive revision of the electoral rolls in the State, said former judge of Gauhati High Court, Justice Biplab Kumar Sharma.

Talking to The Assam Tribune, Justice Sharma, who gave several major judgments on the issue during his tenure as a High Court judge, said that the Assam Agitation started after the names of a large number of foreigners were detected in the electoral rolls of Mangaldoi in 1979. He said that while functioning as a judge, he came across several cases where foreigners managed to obtain various documents.

In fact, even Union ministers made statements in Parliament about the presence of foreigners in the State, he said.

Justice Sharma said that he got one case where a foreign national managed to contest the elections.

“That is why I once said that foreigners have become kingmakers in Assam.” He said that he found cases where the names of persons declared as foreigners by tribunals were not deducted from the electoral rolls. In 2008, he found that no action was taken against persons declared as foreigners, and after he pointed out the loopholes, the concept of detention camps came.

Justice Sharma revealed that he came across a case where a person declared a foreigner by the Foreigners’ Tribunal managed to obtain an Indian passport.

“I called the passport officials and they claimed that they had issued the passport on the basis of a police verification report,” he added. This proves that there is a serious communication gap between the departments concerned, he said.

Justice Sharma pointed out that only a few such cases come before the High Court. No one exactly knows how many foreigners have managed to include their names in the electoral rolls and have become kingmakers. That is why an intensive revision of the electoral rolls is essential in the State.

It may be mentioned here that Justice Sharma headed the committee formed by the Central government to suggest measures for the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

When asked whether he is satisfied with the implementation of the report of the committee, he said, “We submitted the report in February 2020. I have read that the State government has started the implementation of the recommendations which are under its jurisdiction. But implementation of the main recommendations will require amendment of the Constitution, and the Centre will have to come forward to implement those recommendations.”