Assam

Guwahati: Assam has completed its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with the final voter list published after a statewide verification drive. Interestingly, the updated figures reveal a noticeable rise in voter numbers across several Muslim-majority districts, while many tribal-dominated regions have recorded a significant decline. Assam’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anurag Goyal announced that the SIR process officially concluded on February 10, after being initiated in November across all 35 districts of the state. House-to-House Verification Conducted Unlike routine revisions, the recent SIR exercise involved extensive door-to-door verification conducted by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The process aimed at identifying eligible voters, verifying records, and...

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has once again courted controversy with his remarks targeting the ‘Miya’ community, a term commonly used in Assam to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims. Despite mounting criticism, the Chief Minister reiterated that as long as he remains in power, people belonging to the Miya community would face “difficulties” and would not be allowed to live peacefully in the state. Speaking to journalists during a government programme in Goalpara, Sarma said that creating pressure was necessary to force such people to leave Assam. “If I remain in Assam, they will face trouble. They cannot live here peacefully. Only when we create problems for them will they be forced to leave the state,” he said. Illegal Immigration AllegationThe Chief Minister des...

A major political controversy has erupted in Assam following strong remarks made by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma regarding the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of the electoral rolls in the state. Addressing party workers, the Chief Minister stated that he had asked BJP cadres to submit Form-7 applications—used for deletion of names from voter lists—against members of the “Miya” community. He claimed that nearly five lakh names would be removed from the electoral rolls during the revision process. The statement has triggered sharp reactions from opposition parties, particularly the Congress, which has accused the ruling BJP of misusing the voter list revision mechanism for political purposes. During his remarks, Sarma alleged that a section of the “Miya” population consisted of...

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday laid the foundation stone of Assam’s second Legislative Assembly building in Dibrugarh, marking a major step toward administrative decentralisation in the state. Addressing a large public gathering, Shah strongly targeted the Congress, accusing it of making announcements without delivery during its years in power. Calling Dibrugarh the “identity of Assam,” Shah said the city had carried the fragrance of Assam tea to the entire nation and the world. “Today, the tea capital of Assam is receiving a new economic and administrative strength,” he said. Praising Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Home Minister reminded the audience that the announcement for the new Assembly building had been made earlier by the Chief Minister and was now being fu...