NEW DELHI, GUWAHATI, July 29: Faced with the threat of an agitation by the All Assam Students Union (AASU), the Election Commission (EC) today clarified that the revision of electoral rolls in Assam would be in accordance with the Constitution and past Supreme Court judgements.

``The guidelines issued by the Commission are well within the parameters of the Constitution, electoral laws in the country and judgements of the apex court,'' Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill told mediapersons here.

According to reports from Assam, the AASU has raised objections to one of the clauses in the guidelines, which provides for treating persons born in India on or before July 1, 1987 as Indian citizens, irrespective of whether their parents are citizens of India or not. Such citizens are thereby eligible to be included in the electoral rolls.

AASU claims that this provision negates the basic objective of the Assam accord - to keep ``illegal immigrants'' out of the revised electoral rolls.

According to Gill, however, the existing laws and judgements of the apex court on the issue clearly mention that the question of citizenship can only be decided by statutory authorities vested with this power and not by electoral registration officers. The Commission is, therefore, fully justified in its directive to the electoral officers in the state, he said.

AASU and other groups have described the EC directive as a ``conspiracy'' of the government to once again ensure that the indigenous population of the state is outnumbered by Bangladeshi migrants.

``This is a clear conspiracy to include names of lakhs of illegal Bangladeshi migrants as Indian voters,'' AASU general secretary Samujjal Bhattacharyya said in Guwahati yesterday.

AASU, which will decide its course of action on August 5 at its executive committee meeting, has urged the EC to immediately withdraw the directive or ``be prepared to face the consequences''.

It also lashed out at the Asom Gana Parishad(AGP)-led state government of Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta saying it had become a party to the conspiracy by maintaining silence on the matter. Former Assam home minister and senior AGP leader Brigu Phukan, who is already at loggerheads with the Chief Minister, has taken full advantage of the issue and remarked that the AGP should come out of the UF.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.