In Gujarat’s Devbhoomi Dwarka district, at least 575 Muslim fishermen will not be able to cast their votes as their names have been removed from the voter list after their homes were demolished, Maktoob Media reported.
After the state administration demolished the houses for port expansion last year, the voters were not transferred to any other constituency.
A 47-year-old fisherman, Mossa, from Navadra village, was displaced due to port expansion and now lives at least 40 km away. Speaking to Maktoob, he said that when he went back to check his name on the voter’s list, the school teacher, serving as a BLO (Booth Level Office), said, “If you don’t live here, you can’t vote here; you are not the resident of the village anymore.”
Mossa also highlighted that the regions of Harshad, Navadra, Bhogat, and Gandhivi Dwarka villages had mostly Muslim fishermen and were driven out of the area strategically in a “selective target.”
Attempting to collect voter slips, another fisherman Dawood, 44, traveled from Manglur covering a distance of 120 km towards Gandhivi village. He went to the government school to inquire and the police allegedly threatened him with being arrested if he didn’t go back.
Dawood wanted to get his two sons names registered on the voter’s list but couldn’t do so because all their documents were addressed to the demolished home. To make new documents, they would need the earlier documents, which are impossible to get as the documents are “misplaced under the rubble.”
A government teacher, Prafful in Navadra, told Maktoob that his task is to distribute voting slips in the area and denied allegations of deliberate exclusion of Muslims.
Rejecting the claims of selective targeting, Prafful asked, “Tell me if their names have been deleted by the higher authority, how is it my fault?” He added, “How am I going to benefit from it if they won’t vote? I am a teacher, and I am doing my work diligently.”
Responding to these grievances, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), a legal and advocacy human rights organisation, penned a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, urging attention to the deletion of over 500 Muslims from the voter’s list and demanding “the right to vote under special circumstances.”
Ahmedabad-based rights activist Mujahid Nafees, associated with MCC, told Maktoob: “The petition for their reinstatement is pending in the High Court, so it would be unfair if these people were deprived of the right to vote.”
