By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Thursday directed the Election Commission and the Delhi government to strike off from the capital’s voter lists the names of those whom the home ministry and the police have identified as illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
Justice Gita Mittal, giving the direction to the Election Commission, also asked it to file a status report within three weeks.
The court was hearing a writ petition filed in 2003 on what it said was a large-scale influx of foreign nationals illegally migrating into India from countries like Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Myanmar.
The government informed the court that it has deported 32,000 illegal migrants to their native countries since 1991, but it failed to explain to the court why their names have not been removed from the voter lists.
The government said this year it has deported 407 migrants.
The petitioner has contended that there were about 500,000 bogus voters in the capital and the figure has not changed despite the government’s claim to have deported so many illegal migrants since 1991.