>Dimadick at 17:52, 26 June 2021

2021-06-26T17:52:39Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2019}}
'''D voter''', sometimes also referred to as '''Dubious voter''' or '''Doubtful voter''' is a category of voters in [[Assam]] who are [[disenfranchised]] by the government on the account of their alleged lack of proper citizenship credentials. The D voters are determined by special tribunals under the Foreigners Act, and the person declared as D voter is not given the elector's photo identity card. In 2011, the [[Gauhati High Court]] ordered the D voters to be transferred to Foreigners Tribunals set up under Foreigners Tribunal Order 1964 and be kept in detention camps.<ref name="hindu10042012">{{cite news |title=Protect rights of Bengalis from Bangladesh: CPI(M) |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3297684.ece |newspaper=The Hindu |location=Kozhikode |date=10 April 2012 |access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref> The [[Bengali Hindus]] who migrated from [[East Pakistan]] and [[Bangladesh]] before and after 1971 and [[Bengali Muslim]]s in [[Assam]] are affected by this categorization.<ref>{{cite web| title=ভোটের মুখে কেমন আছেন আসামের বাঙালী মুসলমান-হিন্দুরা?|url=https://www.bbc.com/bengali/news/2016/03/160331_india_assam_vote|website=BBC Bangla|language=bn}}</ref> According to Sudip Sarma, the publicity secretary of the Assam unit of the Nikhil Bharat Bangali Udbastu Samanway Samiti, there are 6 lakh Bengali Hindu D voters in the state.<ref name="tt26032012">{{cite news |title=Pincer attack on D-voters |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120326/jsp/northeast/story_15294087.jsp#.UC75Cakgf_c |newspaper=The Telegraph |location=Kolkata |date=26 March 2012 |access-date=18 August 2012}}</ref>

== History ==
On 17 July 1997, the [[Election Commission of India]], issued a circular to the Government of Assam directing it to remove non-citizens from the electoral list.<ref name="ep082012">{{cite news|title=The Dreaded List of Assam |last=Chowdhury |first=Jyotilal |url=http://easternpanorama.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1583&Itemid=10 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217223724/http://easternpanorama.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1583&Itemid=10 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 February 2013 |newspaper=Eastern Panorama |location=Shillong |date=August 2012 |access-date=18 August 2012 }}</ref> Following that, an intensive revision of electoral rolls began in [[Assam]], involving door to door survey in order to enlist only genuine Indian citizens. The persons who could not provide evidence in favour of their Indian nationality were marked with '''D''' in the electoral rolls, to indicate the doubtful or disputed status of their Indian nationality.<ref name="hindu10082012">{{cite news |title=Deleting Assam voters on religious basis not possible: Centre tells SC |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3750519.ece |newspaper=The Hindu |location=New Delhi |date=10 August 2012 |access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref> During the survey, the absentee voters too were marked with '''D'''.<ref name="ep082012"/> Around 370,000 persons were thus declared as D voters by the Election Commission of India.<ref name="tt16072005">{{cite news |title=Assam ‘D’ voters in vanishing act |last=Bhattacharya |first=Rajeev |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050716/asp/frontpage/story_4997901.asp |newspaper=The Telegraph |location=Kolkata |date=16 July 2005 |access-date=18 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095103/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050716/asp/frontpage/story_4997901.asp |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The persons marked as D voters were barred from contesting the elections and casting their votes. The [[Election Commission of India]] further directed the D voters to be put on trial before the Foreigners Tribunals set up under the Foreigner (Tribunal) Order of 1964. Out of an estimated 370,000, only 199,631 cases were referred to the tribunals for verification. During the initial trials 3,686 persons were found to be foreigners, who names were removed from the electoral rolls.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

The trials at the 36 Foreigners Tribunals proceeded at a slow pace. Meanwhile, a section of the Bangladeshi illegal immigrants who were marked as D voters and awaiting the trials became absconding. In view of this, on 4 April 2004, the Gauhati High Court ordered the D voters to be sent to detention camps till their cases were disposed of. Accordingly, the D voters facing trial before the Foreigners Tribunal were sent to the detention camps at Goalpara and Kokrajhar. In 2005, another door to door survey was carried out of the Election Commission. During the survey it was found that a huge number of D voters, who were blacklisted in 1997, could not be traced. The number of D voters was officially revised to 181,619.<ref name="tt16072005"/> As of June 2012, there were officially 157,465 D voters in Assam, whose credentials are under verification.<ref name="toi12062012">{{cite news |title=Rights body moves National Human Rights Commission over suicide |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-12/guwahati/32194300_1_d-voter-rights-body-moves-foreigners-tribunal |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103135309/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-12/guwahati/32194300_1_d-voter-rights-body-moves-foreigners-tribunal |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 January 2013 |location=Guwahati |date=12 June 2012 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref> On 6 January 2014, the State Government informed the Legislature that there were a total of 143,227 D voters in the state.<ref name="hindu16022014">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/assams-doubtful-voters-await-clearance-by-foreigners-tribunals/article5694660.ece|title=Assam’s ‘doubtful’ voters await clearance by foreigners’ tribunals|last=Talukdar|first=Sushanta|date=16 February 2014|work=The Hindu|access-date=4 March 2014}}</ref>

== Human rights issues ==
In July 2011, two middle aged ethnic [[Bengali Hindus]], brothers Santosh Shabdakar and Manotosh Shabdakar, D voters from Tempur Paikan under Algapur constituency in Hailakandi district were declared as Bangladeshi citizens by the Foreigners Tribunal.<ref name="ts13072011">{{cite news |title=Two brothers identified as Bangladeshis |newspaper=The Sentinel |location=Guwahati |date=13 July 2011 }}</ref> The brothers, rickshaw pullers by profession, were born in Tarapur locality of Silchar in Cachar district.<ref name="ts13072011"/> They had exercised their voting rights in the past but were declared as D voters before the 2011 assembly elections.<ref name="ts13072011"/> After the verdict, they were arrested by the Hailakandi police who handed them over to BSF in Karimganj.<ref name="ts13072011"/> On the midnight of 12 July 2011, the BSF took them to Mahishashan border and pushed them into Bangladesh.<ref name="ts14072011">{{cite news |title='D' phobia grips Barak as Shabdakar brothers 'pushed back' |newspaper=The Sentinel |location=Guwahati |date=14 July 2011 }}</ref> Since then the Shabdakar brothers could not be traced.<ref name="ts17072011">{{cite news |title=Gautam orders cell to be set in DCC for 'D' voters |newspaper=The Sentinel |location=Guwahati |date=17 July 2011 }}</ref>

In March 2012, Assam Accord implementation minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the [[Government of Assam]] would constitute a committee to look into the cases of Bengali Hindu D voters in the state. The Government of Assam would also ensure that the police doesn't harass the Bengali Hindus in name of being D voters.<ref name="tt20042012">{{cite news |title=D-voter tussle in PM court - Assam ready with a memorandum for Singh |last=Jaiswal |first=Umanand |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120420/jsp/frontpage/story_15397143.jsp#.UCc5l6Egf_c |newspaper=The Telegraph |location=Kolkata |date=20 April 2012 |access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref> Even after assurance by the minister, the hunt for D voters continued in the Barak Valley.<ref name="ep082012"/> On 8 June 2012, Arjun Namasudra, an ethnic Bengali Hindu from Cachar District committed suicide after being declared a D voter.<ref name="at10062012">{{cite news|title=D voter commits suicide in Cachar |url=http://www.assamtimes.org/hot-news/6788.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414083457/http://www.assamtimes.org/hot-news/6788.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 April 2013 |newspaper=Assam Times |date=10 June 2012 |access-date=18 August 2012 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[National Register of Citizens of India|NRC]]
* [[East Bengali refugees|Bengali Hindu refugees]]
* [[Illegal immigration in India]]


== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Persecution of Bengali Hindus in Assam}}

[[Category:1997 establishments in Assam]]
[[Category:1997 in law]]
[[Category:1990s in Assam]]
[[Category:Indian nationality law]]
[[Category:Election Commission of India]]
[[Category:Elections in India]]
[[Category:Elections in Assam]]
[[Category:Persecution of Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Electoral restrictions]]

D voter - Revision history

>Dimadick at 17:52, 26 June 2021