Assam: BJSM unhappy over allowing non-ST candidates contesting from ST seat in Kokrajhar

KOKRAJHAR: Though the 18th Lok Sabha elections, 2024 is over, yet the Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) expressed dissatisfaction over the Returning Officer of Kokrajhar for allowing non-ST candidates to contest in no. 1 Kokrajhar ST reserved Lok Sabha seat in the last general elections and cautioned that the tribal people of the state should not be deprived of their political rights by allowing non-notified ST candidates to contest in reserved tribal seat in near future.

In a statement, the working president of the BJSM Daorao Dekhreb Narzary said they were not happy over the Returning Officer of Kokrajhar for allowing some non-ST candidates to contest in reserved tribal seat in Kokrajhar by showing fake ST certificates in the last Lok Sabha elections. He said former MP Naba Kr. Sarania had become an MP from Kokrajhar for ten years with a fake ST certificate who played Boro and O-Boro communal politics in BTC. He said the real ST people had been deprived for long after Naba Kr. Sarania grabbed the reserve ST seat with fake ST certificate. The BJSM had been challenging his ST certificate in the Gauhati High Court since 2014 and finally in 2024 general elections, his ST certificates were rejected during scrutiny after the double bench of the High Court pronounced his certificate as invalid. This year, Joyanta Basumatary of UPPL backed by the NDA has won from Kokrajhar ST constituency after 10 years of illegal occupation by non-ST candidate, he said adding that the attempt to grab the ST reserve seat was still an unending question.

 Narzary said five non-ST candidates with fake ST certificates had submitted nomination papers in the last Lok Sabha elections in Kokrajhar ST constituency of which the ST certificate of sitting MP Naba Kr. Sarania was rejected after the High Court pronounced his ST certificate as invalid. He said Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) candidate Binita Deka, independent candidates- Prithviraj Narayan Dev Mech, Gauri Shankar Sarania and Jyotish Kr. Das belonged to the non-ST community but they were allowed to contest in the last general election despite the opposition of BJSM before the Returning Officer. He said Binita Deka backed by GSP with the O-Boro group belonged to Sarania people who are not tribal. Similarly, Prithviraj Narayan Dev Mech is from Rajbongshi community which is not included in ST category but Prithviraj managed to get ST certificate by claiming to be from Mech community which is not true, he said adding that the legacy data of Prithviraj belonged to Rajbongshi not Mech and thus his ST certificate is also fake. Other two candidates Gauri Shankar Sarania and Jyotish Kr. Das also belonged to the Sarania community who are not categorized in ST list, he said adding that the Gauhati High Court had already stopped issuing ST certificates to Sarania people and declared that the ST certificates already acquired by some Sarania people would be ‘invalid’. But despite this fact, the Returning Office of Kokrajhar allowed them to contest for the reason best known to them.

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