The delegation, led by the party’s state secretary Hemen Das and state committee members Isfaqur Rahman and Ajit Das, drew the attention of the CEC to the fact that the names of around 3.8 lakh persons belonging to the minority communities in Assam were still marked with ‘D’ in the voters’ list to denote ‘doubtful citizens’ and they were still denied their right to franchise.

While expressing serious concern at the fate to ‘D; voters, the CPI(M) memorandum said, "that due to the arbitrary action of the Election Commission of India, thousands of genuine Indian citizens were deprived of their right to franchise during the last Lok Sabha elections. Although the names of these persons belonging to the minority communities were enrolled in the voters list following intensive revision of electoral rolls, many of them were marked with ‘D’ to denote ‘doubtful citizens’. Subsequently the EC decided to deny their right to vote."

"With the fast approaching upcoming elections to the Lok Sabha, and in the absence of a concrete decision on the ‘D’ voters, the uncertainty still persists. The delay in deciding the fate of a large number of voters has been causing anxiety and discontent among the people," the memorandum added.

The CPI(M), therefore, urged upon the chief election commissioner of India to ensure the voting rights of all the genuine Indian citizens residing in Assam for the forthcoming elections.

The CPI(M) delegation also pointed out that "the process for updating the rolls in Assam is still hanging fire. The names of large number of young and bonafide citizens who already have completed 18 years of age are yet to be enrolled in the electoral rolls." The party urged upon Dr. Gill to see that effective steps, though belatedly, be taken up in Assam to update the electoral rolls by enrolling the names of young genuine citizens who completed the age of 18 years on or before 1^st January 1999.