Justice on trial:
The denial of the right to franchise to the Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh

On 4 March 2004, the Guwahati High Court is slated to consider the prayer for interim relief with regard to the petition of Mr Mukut Mithi, former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh and others Vs Election Commission of India and Anrs. The petitioners challenged the order of the Election Commission of India of 2 January 2004 suspending all electoral activities in four Chakma and Hajong inhabited Assembly Constituencies for non-inclusion of the Chakmas and Hajongs into the electoral rolls despite repeated orders of the Election Commission of India based on the Citizenship Act of India of 1955, the Supreme Court judgement and Delhi High Court judgement on the issue. “The conduct of any and all elections in the four assembly constituencies of Doimukh, Chowkham, Bordumsa Diyun, and Miao along with all election related work, including the preparation or revision of the electoral rolls there shall stand suspended until further orders," ruled the Election Commission. With the general elections of India slated to be held from 20 April to 10 May 2004, justice is on trial. As ACHR Features is being uploaded on its website on 3 March 2004, the Election Commission of India has reportedly issued fresh directions once again to conduct Special Revision of electoral rolls for inclusion of the Chakmas and Hajongs into the electoral rolls in view of the forthcoming parliamentary elections of India from 20 April to 10 May 2004.

A large number of indigenous Chakmas and Hajongs migrated to India following communal clashes in East Pakistan and the construction of the Kaptai hydro-electric project in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of then East Pakistan. After consultations with the erstwhile North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) administration (now Arunachal Pradesh) and local tribal chiefs, about 4,012 Chakma and Hajong families were settled in Lohit, Tirap and Subansiri districts in 1964. The population of the Chakmas and Hajongs is about 60,000.

Although all other migrants who came from Undivided India were accorded Indian citizenship, until today the Chakmas and Hajongs in Arunachal Pradesh have been deprived of. In the mid 1990s as All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) and the State Government of Arunachal Pradesh perpetrated serious violations of human rights to forcibly evict the Chakmas and Hajongs, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India approached the Supreme Court for protection of their lives and properties. The Supreme Court in its judgement on 9 January 1996 in the case of NHRC vs. State of Arunachal Pradesh and Anr (C.W.P. No. 720 of 1995), among others, directed the Central Government and the State government of Arunachal Pradesh to process the citizenship applications of those who had migrated and protect the lives and liberties of the Chakmas and Hajongs. After eight years, not a single Chakma and Hajong has been granted citizenship. The NHRC has failed to follow up implementation of its own case.

In addition to the Chakmas and Hajongs who had migrated in 1964, there are about 35,000 Chakmas and Hajongs who were born after the migration of their parents. They are Indian citizens by birth. Section 3(1)(a) of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 provides that "except as provided in sub-section (2), every person born in India, - (a) on or after the 26th day of January, 1950 but before the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1986" is a citizen by birth. In their replies to the NHRC on a complaint filed by Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh, the government of India and the State Government of Arunachal Pradesh affirmed that Chakmas and Hajongs are citizens by birth. Yet, the State Election Commission officials refused to enroll these Chakmas and Hajongs into the electoral rolls.

As the State Election Commission officials refused to enroll the Chakmas and Hajongs, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties and the Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh (CCRCAP) filed a writ petition (CPR no. 886 of 2000) before the Delhi High Court against the Election Commission of India. In its judgement on 28 September 2000, the Delhi High Court ordered enrollment of all eligible Chakma and Hajong voters into the electoral rolls. 

However, the Delhi High Court order too was flouted during the annual revisions of electoral rolls in 2001 and 2002. The eligible Chakma and Hajong applicants were not enrolled on frivolous grounds such as lack of polling stations, house numbers etc. This despite that establishing a polling station or providing house numbers are the tasks of the government.

As the State Election Commission officials refused to enroll the Chakmas and Hajongs, on 31 March 2003 the Election Commission of India issued an order for special revision in all Assembly Constituencies having Chakma and Hajong voters. Despite the presence of observers of the Election Commission of India during the revision of electoral rolls from April to May 2003, the Electoral Registration Officers rejected the applications of the Chakmas and Hajongs on the grounds of lack of birth certificates, different sizes of signatures etc. Out of a total of 11,360 claimants only 1499 claimants i.e. 13.19% were accepted and enrolled. However, they were later arbitrarily deleted in a notification on 26 June 2003 pursuant to the decision of the Cabinet of state government of Arunachal Pradesh that their inclusion violates the Bengal Frontier Regulation, 1873 or Inner Line Regulation. The eligible Chakmas or Hajongs were deleted from electoral rolls despite the unequivocal direction of the Election Commission of India not to publish the rolls without prior written permission of the Commission.

Terming the decision of the State government as "wrong", the Election Commission has pointed out that even the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court, in their respective orders on two different petitions dealing with the question of the settlement of the Chakmas in the state and granting of Indian citizenship to them, have held that "the Chakmas, born in India on or after January 26, 1950, but before July 1, 1985, and living in the state, are to be treated as ordinarily residents of the state and are entitled to be registered in the electoral roll of the state."

The officials of the Election Commission of India met the Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister on 28 August 2003 and unequivocally conveyed to him that "so long as the Chakmas were ordinarily residents in the state, they could not be denied their Constitutional right of enrolment of their names in the electoral rolls of the state." In a official communication in September 2003, the Commission further informed the Chief Minister that "the preparation and revision of the electoral rolls was a constitutional duty conferred on the commission by Article 324 (1) and the state Cabinet resolution refusing voting rights to the Chakmas was an hindrance to the commission's constitutional obligation to prepare and revise the electoral rolls". The State Government was directed to suitably amend or altogether scrap its Cabinet resolution. Instead, the State government asked former Chief Minister Mukut Mithi to challenge the Election Commission order before the Guwahati High Court  and it became a respondent.

It remains to be seen what further measures are taken by the Election Commission of India to uphold its constitutional obligation to ensure the right to franchise of the Chakmas and Hajongs considering that Bengal Frontier Regulation of 1873 has nothing to do with the Representation of Peoples Act of 1950. In a State bereft of any hot political issue, the demand for expulsion of the Chakmas and Hajongs is undoubtedly the "most sexy" issue to climb up the political ladder and collect money. A former President of the AAPSU went to become the spokesman and Education Minister of the State government led by Mukut Mithi. The AAPSU leaders reportedly collected millions of rupees to continue their movement to drive the Chakmas and Hajongs out. Though the Chakmas and Hajong share excellent and cordial relations with their neighbouring communities, it is the mob rule, which rules the roots in Arunachal Pradesh.