GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said the voters’ lists in the state’s ‘char’ (sandbar) and other riverine areas have the names of a lot of dead people.
He told the media that many women also moved out after their marriage, yet the areas recorded a 100 per cent polling in the past.
Batting for special intensive revision (SIR), Sarma said, “When there is SIR and the names of voters are linked with their Aadhar numbers, the problems will disappear.”
He criticised Rahul Gandhi for opposing SIR, stating that the Congress leader was not clear about what he actually wanted.
“He can approach the Election Commission, ask it to rectify the voter lists and link Aadhar numbers with the names of voters to prevent people from voting at two places. But he is not interested in it,” Sarma said.
He asked how the Congress won in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana if the voters’ lists were erroneous. He said the Congress was earlier critical of electronic voting machines and now, it is using voters’ lists as a new ammunition.
Meanwhile, Sarma clarified that the ongoing eviction drives in Assam was only against those “Miya Muslims” (Bengali Muslims) who had encroached upon land in forests, village grazing reserves, and professional grazing reserves. “Our people do not encroach upon such lands,” he said.
He further stated that unlike tribals, non-tribals are not eligible for land deeds in such areas.
“They (Miya Muslims) have vast swathes of lands in Assam’s sandbars and other riverine areas where nobody else goes to live. In fact, half of Assam’s lands is with them in the riverine areas. But if they want to go to places like Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, where will the Assamese live?” Sarma asked.
“Our aim is to protect the Assamese people,” he further stated.