Assam: Voters Purge in Karimganj; Over 42,000 Names Removed

KARIMGANJ: The final voter list for the Karimganj parliamentary constituency reveals the removal of nearly 42,000 names in the past two months. The most striking fact is that a substantial portion of those excluded belongs to the minority community. The state election commission, in its latest publication, disclosed that 11,448 names were removed from the Hailakandi district, and a staggering 30,048 from the Karimganj district.

The adjustments were made primarily based on multiple entries in different polling stations, scrutiny of voters residing outside the state or country, and the omission of deceased voters' names. The delimitation process has reshaped the political landscape, reducing the number of assembly centers in the Karimganj parliamentary constituency from eight to six.

The focus on this constituency has intensified due to the demographic shift, now dominated by minority voters. Political parties are closely monitoring every voter in this open parliamentary constituency. The final voter list specifies a total of 4,711,148 voters in two assembly centers in the Hailakandi district, contrasting sharply with the draft list from December 8, which reported 482,591 voters in the same district. This suggests that approximately 11,000 voters were excluded from Hailakandi District in the final list.

Similar discrepancies are evident in Karimganj district. The draft list indicated 953,996 voters, but the final list, published yesterday, shows the removal of around 31,000 voters from four assembly centers in the district. Notably, the final voter list discloses the exclusion of nearly 14,000 female voters in Karimganj district and 11,000 in Hailakandi district. Many of these omitted female voters had separate entries for their birthplace and husband's residence.

Swapan Kumar Bhattacharya, the district president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Hailakandi, expressed satisfaction, stating that the BJP had long voiced concerns about duplicate names and deceased individuals in the voter list. The Election Commission's confirmation of these issues in the final voter list is seen as a validation of the party's stance.

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