SILCHAR, March 30 - With a couple of days left for the first phase of the Assembly elections in the State, a large number of D voters are at the centre of the electoral politics. The political jigsaw over the issue of whether they are eligible to cast their votes in the elections has left as many as 5,540 D voters in Cachar district utterly confused.
For Haripada Das, a 59-year-old labourer from Malinibeel area of Silchar, exercising his franchise has been a story of sheer struggle. In the 2011 Assembly elections, he was denied to vote since he was marked as the D voter in the electoral rolls.
�We are three brothers and sisters and only I have been identified and marked as a D voter. Since then it has been a traumatic experience for me. With no political party coming forward to help my cause, I hoped that a change in guard in New Delhi will bring some good news. But with such wobbling statements being dished out, there is little hope to get out of the frustrating situation,� Haripada said.
Feeling thwarted ahead of the Assembly elections, Haripada said that had fought a legal battle to justify his claims and Foreigners� Tribunal Silchar declared him as a genuine Indian citizen in 2014. �I am not able to vote as despite the declaration, the �D voter� tag alongside my name in the voter�s list is yet to be eliminated,� he lamented.
Reacting to the situation, Hafiz Rashid Choudhury, chief advisor of Citizen�s Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC), Assam, said that both the Congress and the BJP are busy gaining political mileage over the issue putting the lives of nearly 1.5 lakh such people in jeopardy. �After the notification issued in September last year, the BJP is chest-thumping that it has kept its promise to safeguard the interest of the Hindu refugees from Bangladesh. The Congress, on the other hand, has been echoing its intent of fast disposal of the cases. But the matter is far from being resolved,� Choudhury said.
Meanwhile, the DC of Cachar, S Vishwanathan has clarified that as per the directions of the Election Commission, the D voters cannot vote.
