The Assam government ordered 1,600 forest protection officers — including guards at Kaziranga National Park — to abandon wildlife duties and do election work. The National Green Tribunal had to step in and explain that rhinos cannot be left unattended so humans can vote.
In a move that treated endangered one-horned rhinoceroses as a scheduling inconvenience, the Assam Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department issued an order on March 19 directing 1,600 Assam Forest Protection Force personnel to report for election duty from April 3-10. This despite a May 2024 Supreme Court order explicitly barring states from using forest staff for non-forestry work. The National Green Tribunal's Eastern Zone Bench in Kolkata called the move bad in law and said it would set a bad precedent — legal speak for did you seriously just leave Kaziranga unguarded during poaching season so you could have extra hands at polling booths? Wildlife conservationists noted that elephants, tigers, and rhinos cannot reschedule their need for protection around India's electoral calendar.