Shillong, April 23: Irked by the state machinery’s alleged failure to check proliferation of “dubious voters”, social organisations today announced a two-night road blockade in Khasi-Jaintia hills from Wednesday.

The decision to block National Highways 40 and 44 from 8pm to 5am on Wednesday and Thursday was announced at a public rally jointly organised by the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), Federation of Khasi-Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) and the Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) at Motphran this afternoon.

Speakers at the rally lambasted the government machinery, especially the election department, for what they called a “motive” to annihilate the indigenous population by allowing rampant proliferation of “dubious voters”.

“Indigenous society is already imperilled by rampant infiltration of non-indigenous groups, including foreigners from Bangladesh and Nepal. To add to the danger, the state machinery is not doing enough verification before enlisting voters into the electoral rolls,” FKJGP working president Joe Marwein said at the gathering.

Stating that the social organisations were not anti-Indian in their stance, he said legislators, members of the district council and headmen should stop issuing residential certificates to people coming from outside.

Marwein said despite demands by social organisations to put in place inner line permit, work permit and three-tier identity card system, the government was yet to implement any of these mechanisms to check infiltration.

KSU president Daniel Khyriem sought people’s support for the agitation to be launched by the organisations. He warned that they would intensify their agitation if the government did not fulfil their demands, including closing down of the special counters at the deputy commissioner’s offices in the districts for enrolment of voters.

“Even people at the age of 40 come to the deputy commissioner’s office to enrol themselves. Most of the people from outside do not even have proper documents to stake their claim as Indian citizens. Yet, the authorities blindly accept such documents,” he added.

He alleged that “special agents” of political parties had been put in the deputy commissioner’s office to assist prospective voters, including dubious ones. “Rampant enrolment without proper verification of antecedents is taking place because elections are coming near. Just to increase their vote bank, politicians do not even care about its ramifications,” he alleged.

HNYF president G.H. Kharshanlor said because of the lethargic state machinery, it was easier to obtain an electoral photo identity card than a mobile SIM card.

The UDP, a coalition partner in the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government, also said the party was not happy with the ongoing registration of doubtful voters in the electoral roll, especially in Shillong.

Party president Donkupar Roy, who is also the chairman of the state planning board, told reporters that any person without proper verification of his/her antecedents was allowed to register his/her name to get elector’s photo identity card. “We appeal to the government to stop the exercise,” he said.

The matter was discussed in the UDP’s state election committee meeting held at Roy’s house today.

“We know enrolment of voters is done according to the Constitution but it does not mean that one has to force doubtful citizens to register their names,” Roy said.

He said the government should ensure while enrolling voters whether they were genuine citizens. “The names of doubtful citizens should not find place in the list of voters.”

The UDP and the NGOs fear that foreigners and immigrants can get enrolled in the process of general invitation to all to register their names for inclusion in the voter list.

Recently, the East Khasi Hills administration had detected some cases where prospective voters submitted fake birth certificates.

Deputy commissioner of the district Sanjay Goyal said enrolment of voters was open to objection or scrutiny. “There is a form where objections can be filed against prospective voters. However, till date we are yet to receive any complaint from any quarter.” He said the decision of the electoral registration officer, who conducts a hearing before enlisting voters, was not “final” and anyone having a grievance could appeal to the Election Commission.