BJSM urges ECI to delete names of illegal encroachers in tribal areas

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR: Considering the abnormal rise of non-tribal voters in tribal-dominated areas of BTC and Assam, the Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Manch (BJSM) strongly urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take firm action and delete the names of all illegal encroachers in tribal belts and blocks from the voter list. 

The Working President of the BJSM, DD Narzary, welcomed the decision of the Chief Election Commissioner of India for conducting a Special Revision of the voter list in Assam. Narzary said that in 2016, when Hari Shankar Brahma served as the Chief Election Commissioner of India, a delegation of BJSM met him both in New Delhi and Kokrajhar, requesting removal of illegal encroachers’ names from voter registers. He said that Brahma being a tribal leader belonging to the Bodo community, the organization had tremendous hope that he would take necessary corrective action. “However, it is deeply regretted that no tangible result was achieved, thereby hurting the sentiments and aspirations of the tribal people. The encroachment continues despite clear legal provisions under chapter X of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation Act, 1886, as amended in 1947, under which non-tribal and non-protected class individuals are prohibited from settling in tribal belts and blocks,” Narzary said. He also said that despite this legal safeguard, lakhs of non-protected class individuals have illegally occupied land in the protected areas.

Narzary said that the official records indicated that in BTC alone, approximately 3,49,500 bighas of land remained under illegal occupation and across Assam, nearly 4 lakh bighas of tribal belt and block lands continued to be encroached upon but that successive governments had failed to initiate eviction drives and instead used these illegal encroachers as a vote bank, thereby ignoring tribal land rights.

Narzary said that in 2019, the Gauhati High Court directed the Assam Government to evict illegal settlers from tribal belts and blocks as per chapter- X of the act. However, no significant steps have been taken to implement the order, he added.

The BJSM leader demanded fair and just electoral process with the Special Revision of voter list. He said that it was a critical opportunity to ensure a fair democratic process and that unless illegal encroachers were removed from the electoral rolls, elections in the BTC and Assam tribal belts could not be termed free, fair, or justified, especially since the population of illegal settlers had already surpassed the tribal population in several areas.

The BJSM strongly urged the Election Commission of India to issue necessary directions to the Government of Assam to delete the names of illegal encroachers from the voter list in tribal belts and blocks, to implement eviction of illegal settlers in accordance with chapter-X of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation Act, 1886 (as amended in 1947) and to respect and enforce the Gauhati High Court’s directive regarding protection of tribal land.

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