: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday told the Assembly that 1,679 illegal Bangladeshis have been brought back from the state in the last two years.
“A total of 1,679 illegal immigrants have been repatriated (deported/repatriated/expelled) from Assam to Bangladesh in the last two years,” Sarma said in response to a question from All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Badruddin Ajmal.
The Prime Minister said the deportations took place between July 1, 2024 and June 30 of this year, but did not provide further details. He had earlier said that illegal immigrants from the neighboring country were being “sent back” under the provisions of the Assam (Expulsion of Migrants from Assam) Act, 1950.
Asserting that Assam is following the Centre’s directives on illegal migrants, the Prime Minister said the state has ensured protection of human rights of migrants, stressing that illegal migrants whose appeals are pending in courts have not been repatriated.
In response to another query from Congress MLA Noorul Islam on democratic voters, the chief minister said there were 91,385 democratic voters (voters of questionable nationality) in the electoral rolls in the state.
He said the largest number of such voters was in Sonitpur district (13,719), followed by Barpeta district (8,081).
The chief minister said the process of identifying and separating D voters from regular voters has been going on in the state since 1997, as directed by the Election Commission.
Sarma said 56,728 Democratic voters have been declared as foreigners by foreigners’ courts in the state, while 831 of those who appealed against the segregation have been termed illegal by high courts.
He also informed that 65,171 DA voters have been declared Indians by the FTs so far, while 42 others have been classified as citizens by the Gauhati High Court and the Supreme Court.
In response to another question, he said 199,596 Democratic voters were detected when the process began in 1997. Since then, 31,389 of them have been expelled from the country after being declared foreigners.
