EC set to take fresh look at 1997 order on ‘D’ voters
‘D’ voters are included in electoral rolls but not allowed to vote during pendency of their cases before foreigners tribunals. The EC may now need to decide whether they be allowed to vote as well until declared as ‘foreigners’, as is the case with persons not in the NRC, said a former EC officer.
Sources in the commission said the poll panel has decided to go through its files and records relating to ‘D’ voters as well as various court judgments and observations over the years relating to the 1997 EC circular directing voters in Assam who could not produce documents to prove Indian nationality during roll revision to be marked ‘doubtful’.
All cases of ‘D’ voters were referred to foreigners tribunals for a decision on declaring them as ‘foreigners’ or otherwise. The 1997 order was upheld by the Gauhati HC in 2011. In 2015, the SC refused to interfere with the HC order.
However, given the acute shortage of tribunals and long-winding hearings, the fate of nearly 1.2 lakh ‘D’ voters is yet to be decided after 22 years. “The EC feels a need to revisit the pendency issue, mindful that the tribunals will now be further burdened with hearing appeals against exclusions from NRC,” said an officer. A majority of those marked ‘D’ voters are Bengali speaking Hindus.
While EC officials were tight lipped on the likely outcome of the re-examination of ‘D’ voter files, a former EC functionary indicated the commission was within its rights to revisit the 1997 order citing a change in circumstances. In any case, the ex-functionary pointed out, the treatment of those with ‘D’ voter tag — totalling around 1.2 lakh — cannot be at variance with those excluded from the NRC who will continue to be valid voters till they are declared ‘foreigners’ after exhausting all legal remedies.
The EC reprieve for ‘voters’ left out of the NRC was given in view of a clarification put out by the home ministry on September 2 stating that such persons “would continue to enjoy all rights as earlier, like any other citizen” till “they exhaust all available remedies under law”.
The “available” remedies include filing an appeal in foreigners tribunals against one’s exclusion from the NRC, followed by further appeals in the HC and the SC.
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