SHILLONG, July 23: Amid rising alarm from pressure groups that Bangladeshi nationals living illegally along the international border are adopting Khasi surnames to sneak into the electoral roll, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Abhilash Baranwal has brushed aside the concerns as “unfounded” and insisted the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has airtight checks.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Baranwal stressed that the SIR is strictly a verification drive of existing electors — not a fresh enrolment exercise that could open the door to outsiders.
“As of now, nearly 95 per cent of the enumeration forms have been distributed and around 45 per cent have already been digitised. We are confident of completing both the distribution and digitisation before the July 29 deadline,” he said.
The Deputy Commissioner was responding directly to accusations that infiltrators in border villages are misusing Khasi surnames to secure voting rights. He claimed the process leaves no room for such manipulation.
“The mechanisms are quite foolproof. Enumeration forms are being issued only to those who were already registered as electors in the existing electoral roll. This is not an exercise to enrol new voters but to validate those who are already on the electoral roll,” Baranwal asserted.
He added a further layer of scrutiny: every elector must prove that either they themselves or their parents figured in the 2005 electoral roll.
“They have to prove that either they or their family members, such as their father or mother, were enrolled in the 2005 electoral roll. Therefore, I see absolutely no possibility of non-Indian citizens who may have adopted Khasi surnames taking advantage of the SIR process,” he declared.
Baranwal maintained that even if any ineligible name had slipped into the rolls earlier, the current verification would weed it out.
“This exercise is meant to identify genuine Indian citizens, validate their enrolment and ensure that any ineligible names, if found, are deleted from the electoral roll,” he said.
The DC did concede that Booth Level Officers are under severe pressure due to the tight deadline. Many electors, anxious about the process, are forcing BLOs to fill the forms on their behalf, adding to the already heavy workload. Yet he insisted the officials are still ensuring “no eligible Indian citizen is left out.”
