After violent eviction, Assam residents now stare at deletion of names from voter list

In September, Ibrahim Ali’s home in Assam’s Kamrup district was flattened by bulldozers.

This was part of the state government’s eviction drive against alleged illegal settlers in Kachutali village. Three days later, two men were killed in police firing when the officials returned to chase the displaced families off the land.

For Ali, a 33-year-old driver, that was not the end of his difficulties.

Around November 17, Ali, his elder brother Saheb Ali and sister-in-law Jorina Begum received separate notices from the electoral registration officer, informing them that their names might be deleted from the voters’ list of the Dimoria Assembly constituency.

The reason cited by the electoral registration officer was that they had “ceased to be ordinarily resident” in the constituency after their eviction. However, Ali has been living in makeshift huts made of tin and covered by tarpaulin sheets in the same village, not far from his earlier home.

District officials told Scroll that such notices were served on over 1,000 Kachutali residents – one-third of its voters – many of whom had been evicted in the September drive.

The election officer of Kamrup Metropolitan district, Manash Jyoti Bora, told Scroll that the notices were sent as part of a special summary revision of the electoral roll.

Such an exercise involves reviewing the voter list annually and...

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