The Indian state has since created distinct mechanisms to identify who it believes to be foreigners illegally residing in Assam. In 1997, the Election Commission of India marked thousands of persons as doubtful voters, abrogating their participation in the democratic process. It remains unclear how the commission came to identify voters. At present, there are around 120,000 doubtful voters in Assam. The state has also constituted a special police force tasked with identifying foreigners. In 1983, the Indian state had constituted tribunals under the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act to determine the citizenship status of suspected foreigners in Assam. The Indian Supreme Court in 2005 held the legislation as unconstitutional in Sonowal v. Union of India. The Court noted that the IMDT Act was ineffective since it had far too many safeguards in favour of defendants. It held that citizenship determination must be delegated to the Foreigners Tribunals that are quasi-judicial bodies constituted by the Executive under the Foreigners Act 1946. This Act places the burden of proof on the suspected foreigners and permits the tribunal members to determine their own procedures that may be in variance with ordinary courts. Over the last 15 years, the state has referred all doubtful voter and police reference cases to these tribunals. Over 117,000 persons have been declared foreigners by these tribunals. At present, 100 tribunals are in operation, and the government has announced the creation of 200 more.  introduction 35