SHILLONG: The FKJGP has strongly opposed the inclusion of the Tibetan community into the electoral rolls of the State.
“We are against the order of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to include the names of the Tibetans in the electoral rolls,” FKJGP president Joe Marwein said in a statement issued here on Thursday.
He said that the inclusion of the Tibetans in the electoral rolls is going to have a severe impact on the microscopic indigenous population of the State.
“We are already fighting against the problem of influx. This inclusion of the Tibetans would only worsen the situation,” Marwein said.
He said that the inclusion of the Tibetans in big States like Karnataka was acceptable since the local population is not small compared to the indigenous tribes of Meghalaya.
For the first time, the Tibetan community of Shillong was officially granted the right to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections following the Election Commission of India’s order to all states to include the names of Tibetans in the respective electoral list.
The EC’s move comes in the wake of a Karnataka High Court order in August 2013, which paved the way for granting Indian citizenship to Tibetan refugees. The EC has mentioned that children of Tibetan refugees born in India between January 26, 1950 and 1987, as mentioned in the Citizenship Act 1955, can no longer be denied enrollment in voters’ list.
While hailing the EC decision, some members of the Tibetan community lamented that they often encounter problems while visiting offices in Shillong. “Even if we show our EPIC in Government offices, we are asked many questions,” a member of the Tibetan community said on Tuesday.
India is thought to be home to around 120,000 Tibetans, approximately 48,000 of whom are eligible to vote.
The community has lived in India in large numbers ever since their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, crossed the border in 1959, fleeing repression by the Chinese in their homeland.
At present, Tibetans not born in India are considered foreigners and have to apply periodically for registration certificates from their local Foreigner Regional Registration Office.
The Citizenship Act of 1955 states that all people born in India are legally considered citizens, which allows Tibetans born in India since then to claim Indian citizenship.
However the act was amended in 1986 and the provision that conferred Indian citizenship on any child born in India was removed. Since many Tibetans are already considered Indian citizens by law, the Election Commission is not unduly extending franchise to people who are not citizens.