Mass Expulsion of Illegal Aliens in Assam Due

The leader of the anti-immigrant party that won the Assam elections said Friday that the state will kick out hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from Bangladesh as soon as the expulsions can be arranged.

The government of Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, has said it will not take them back.

Asked in an interview how he would deal with the refusal by neighboring Bangladesh, party leader Prafulla K. Mahanta said: “That is something for not only the new state government but also the central (Indian) government to tackle.

“Illegal settlers should be expelled as soon as they have been identified as foreigners by government investigators,” he said.

Mahanta, a 34-year-old graduate law student at Gauhati University, is expected to head the Assam government formed as a result of Monday’s election.

Won 62 of 125 Seats

His three-month-old party of native Assamese Hindus, the Assam People’s Council, won 62 of the 125 seats in the legislature of this troubled state in northeastern India, and three independents won with its support. The contest for the 126th seat was postponed because a candidate died.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress-I Party, which had controlled the state government for all but two years since India’s independence from Britain in 1947, won only 23 seats.

Counting was not complete in five districts. The other seats went to minor parties.

The Congress-I Party’s main support is in the minority community, which includes native Indian Muslims and tribespeople, but it was split by another new party, the United Minority Front, which won 16 seats in the legislature.

In races for Parliament in New Delhi, nine of the 14 contests had been decided by Friday night. Two went to the Congress-I Party, four to the Assam People’s Council and three to other opposition groups.