Syed Arshad Madani in Guwahati on Friday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, June 24: The All India Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, led by Maulana Hazrat Syed Arshad Madani, today resolved to take up the issue of ‘D’ voters with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

The move is seen as Jamiat factions competing with each other on the ‘D’ voter issue to mount pressure on the government to resolve it.

The Election Commission had in the nineties directed the state election officials in Assam to mark 3.75 lakh voters ‘D’ on the ground that the citizenship status of these voters was doubtful, and debarred them from exercising their franchise.

The number of such voters had come down to 1.5 lakh in 2009 from 3.75 lakh in 1990 as a majority of the suspected people were found to be genuine Indian citizens by the Foreigners’ Tribunals.

Around 12,480 names were added to the list just before the last Assembly elections, following a Gauhati High Court order.

Arshad Madani, who heads one faction of the All India Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, today met chief minister Tarun Gogoi and requested him to take appropriate steps to prevent harassment of Indian citizens in the name of being ‘D’ voters. Forest minister Rockybul Hussain, one of the leaders of the Arshad faction of Jamiat, accompanied him.

After meeting the chief minister, Madani held a convention at Pragjyoti ITA Cultural Centre here where he said Jamiat was already in touch with the Prime Minister’s office on the ‘D’ voters issue.

He said his organisation would soon meet Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi to create pressure to resolve the issue at the earliest.

“We will not allow anyone in Assam to face inhumane harassment by the police and the administration in the name of detecting ‘D’ voters. Our pressure has forced the chief minister to constitute a committee to look into the issue,” Madani said.

The developments come a day after the rival Maulana Mahmood Madani faction of All India Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind completed its campaign to create awareness about how the minority population was being subjected to harassment in different parts of the state on suspicion of being doubtful voters.

The state unit of the Mahmood faction, led by AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal, has also decided to move the Supreme Court over the issue. Arshad Madani on Wednesday announced in New Delhi its decision to file a review petition before the division bench of Gauhati High Court.

The Mahmood faction held mass rallies at Asimganj, Nagaon, Jaleswar and Howly. While Mahmood addressed the first two, the next two were by national president Kari Usman Puri.

Sources said the government, apparently pro-Arshad Madani faction, has already expressed concern. It had stated categorically in the recently concluded Assembly session that it would do everything possible to restore the rights of genuine Indian citizens branded as ‘D’ voters, which was a dominating poll plank in the state.