Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Sunday that individuals evicted from illegally encroached land will have their names removed from the voter lists of those areas, as part of a broader effort to curb demographic changes in upper and northern Assam. Speaking in Margherita, Tinsukia district, Sarma claimed that the “failure” to protect lower and central Assam from an “invasion” by Bengali-speaking Muslims, whom he accuses of land encroachment to alter demography, must not be repeated.

“If someone is evicted from a place, their name cannot be on the voter list of that place,” Sarma stated, confirming that voter list deletions will accompany evictions. He noted that 1,19,548 bighas (160 sq km) of land have been cleared since May 2021, affecting 50,000 people. In Margherita, where 10,000–12,000 “unknown people” have allegedly settled, Sarma said eviction processes have begun following discussions with the district commissioner and police superintendent. He emphasized that only those “with no link” to the area will be targeted.

Sarma clarified that indigenous communities like Moran, Mottock, Ahom, Gorkha, and Koch-Rajbongshi, long settled in Margherita’s tribal areas, will receive land rights, stating, “They are not our enemy.” Critics, including the All Assam Minority Students’ Union, argue that evictions disproportionately target Bengali-origin Muslims, many of whom claim residency predating the 1971 Assam Accord citizenship cutoff. Former Chief Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa told Scroll.in that eviction alone cannot legally strip voting rights, raising concerns about the policy’s legality.

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Social media posts on X, such as from @VertigoWarrior, frame the evictions as protecting Assam’s indigenous identity, while @scroll_in highlights allegations of discriminatory targeting. With 15,270 families, mostly Muslim, evicted since 2021 per state data, the policy remains contentious ahead of the 2026 assembly polls.

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