A sting operation by India Today TV investigative team exposed the extent of the menace as well as the modus operandi of converting Bangladeshi immigrants into legitimate Indian citizens.

Assam's biggest election issue, illegal immigration, is not unfounded.

An India Today TV investigation has revealed how illegal migrants from Bangladesh have acquired the right documents to exercise the right to franchise in Assam.

A sting operation by India Today TV investigative team exposed the extent of the menace as well as the modus operandi of converting Bangladeshi immigrants into legitimate Indian citizens.

According to the investigation, captured all on camera, middlemen have established a well-oiled machinery to provide documents of identity proof such as driving licences and school transfer certificates, against which these migrants can becomes citizens and exercise their right to vote.

The investigative team unearthed several cases in which such individuals who had been declared as foreign nationals by the Foreigners' Tribunals, had their names on voter lists and were up for voting in the second phase scheduled for April 11. The authorities and the government - Centre and state - seem oblivious to this racket.

The India Today TV investigation team caught National Register of Citizens of India (NCR) officials sharing insider details of the process and the fact that they had identified huge number of such cases. Officials also claimed that they had nearly identified all such 'foreign nationals' in Assam, and were only another six months or so away from completing the process.

According to NRC officials, just in Dhubri there might be as many as 12,000 Bangladeshi migrants who are living as Indian citizens with fake papers.

"We have got two lists of Bangladeshi migrants living in Dhubri. The first list was of some 11,975 persons. They are the DVoters or dubious voters and they cannot cast their votes as their cases are pending in the Foreigners Tribunal. Second list was that of another 16,504 such persons," said an NRC official caught on hidden camera.

"We are working through the method of sampling. The figure is nearly 30,000. Out of this we have checked 3,000 in which we have found 80 cases of illegal migrants. Out of these 20 have their names on electoral rolls. The rest 27,000 we have to find, but they might have moved from the given addresses," said a highly placed official of the NRC.

Which means the voting is not authentic and can be challenged in the court, the investigating team asked. "Yes. It is no more authentic with such people also participating in the election," the official replied adding that, "We have so far identified the number of declared foreigners. The numbers of those not identified as yet is way more."

Mir Hussain Khan has apparently studied from the Dev Nagri Hindi M E School in Dhubri district, for instance; at least this is what the school's transfer certificate (TC) declares. The TC also says that he was admitted to the school on January 15, 1957, while the school was established only in 1969. This was the finding of the NRC in Assam. The certificate also declares his character to be "good" and that he failed in Class 6 and studied in the school for only two years.

Another case has a name from the Declared Foreigners-Post 1971's list featuring on the state voters' list. A woman called Mariam Nessa, a resident of Barpeta district. Nessa was declared a foreigner under a Foreign Tribunal case number 396/11. Incidentally, she is on the voters list of the Jania constituency. Both the documents, the foreigner's list and the voters' list, have been accessed by the India Today TV team.

According to the voters' list, Nessa carries an Electors Photo Identity (EPIC) or simply voter ID card which has the number HTN4137433. Under the father's/husband's name one Mustafijur is listed and Nessa is entitled to cast her vote at the Kharballi LP School on April 11.

Similarly, Shahidur Rahman, allegedly a resident of village Dimakuri under the Golakganj police station of Dhubri district, is also a foreign national who has been issued a voter ID. Rahman was declared a foreigner under a Foreign Tribunal case but he is on the voters list of the Gauripur constituency. The voters list shows Rahman carries a voter ID card which bears the number FSC1298288. Under the father's/husband's name one Nacharuddin Sheikh is listed and he is entitled to cast his vote at the New Dimakuri Public School on April 11.

The investigation team also did a sting on the middlemen who claimed to provide certificates and identity cards at a price. "I will provide a driving licence at a cost of Rs 10,000," said one Abu Taheb, who runs his racket from the Dhubri transport office, when he was asked if he could provide one for a person from Bangladesh. In Chirang district, the story remains the same. An agent named Nasir told the team that he would charge 5,000 for a school transfer certificate and another Rs 3,500 for getting a driving licence made on the basis of the TC.

Also Read

From the magazine: Banglo-Indians

