State Coordinator files petition in Supreme Court, seeks re-verification of draft NRC

May 13: In a recent development, National Register of Citizens (NRC) State Co-ordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma has filed a petition before the Supreme Court – which is monitoring the NRC. While in the said petition, the State Coordinator of NRC sought a comprehensive and time-bound re-verification of the draft NRC as well as its supplementary list., but on the other hand, Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma just after the swearing-in ceremony on 10 May preferred only 20% and 10% re-verification. Naturally, there arises inconsistencies between the opinion of the State NRC Coordinator & the Chief Minister of Assam.

Sarma, in the plea before the apex court, said since the preparation of a correct and error free NRC was integral to national security and was being closely monitored by the top court itself, it was necessary to apprise the court of anomalies that have occurred during the NRC updation process and seek remedial action. He claimed that while ineligible names were included in the draft NRC, many eligible names have been excluded from the list.  Sarma sought re-verification under the supervision of a monitoring committee, preferably represented by the respective District Judge, District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police.

According to the NRC authority, the process of receipt of NRC Application Forms started during the end of May 2015 and ended on August 31, 2015. A total of 3,30,27,661 members applied through 68,37,660 applications. “As per Orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, Draft NRC (Complete Draft) was published on 30th July, 2018 wherein 2,89,83,677 numbers of persons were found eligible for inclusion. Thereafter, Claims were received from 36,26,630 numbers of persons against exclusions. Verification was also carried out of persons included in Draft NRC under Clause 4(3) of the Schedule of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. Objections were received against inclusion of 1,87,633 persons whose names had appeared in Complete Draft. Another Additional Draft Exclusions List was published on 26th June, 2019 wherein 1,02,462 persons were excluded.”

 While the State Coordinator filed petition for re-verification of the draft NRC as well as its supplementary list, the Chief Minister preferred only 20% and 10% re-verification.

Replying to a query by a journalist on National Register of Citizens (NRC), Dr Sarma said, “As regards NRC, our stand is very clear. We have raised the demand of re-verification of 20 percent of cases in the bordering districts of Assam’ whereas, for the rest of the districts, we want 10 percent re-verification. If after this re-verification, we find that the exercise is satisfactory, then we will proceed ahead. However, if we find that even after re-verification, there are major anomalies in the NRC, then we would urge upon the Supreme Court to analyse the situation and give its directives on this issue.”

Interesting, during the recently concluded Assam Assembly Election 2021, the then Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora while addressing media persons in a hotel in Guwahati 20 January, 2021 announced that people whose names have been excluded in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be able to vote in the upcoming Assam Assembly Elections 2021.

Meanwhile, the Gauhati High Court had asked the State Coordinator of NRC on 19 October, 2020 to submit an affidavit explaining how the names of some ineligible people crept into the final updated NRC. As per direction of the Gauhati High Court dated-19 October, 2020, the Office of State Coordinator of National Register of Citizens (NRC) has filed an affidavit in the Gauhati High Court submitting that the names of 4795 ineligible persons were detected after verification of the backgrounds of 10,199 individuals who were enrolled in the final NRC.

The final NRC list of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published on 31 August, 2019. Out of a total number of 3,30,27,661 applicants, the names of 3,11,21,004 were included in the final NRC. That means a total of 19,06,657 persons were excluded from the NRC. The entire process was carried out under the watchful eye of the Supreme Court. Though the final National Register of Citizens for Assam was made public in August last year, it is yet to be notified by the Registrar General of India, leaving the historic and controversial document without any official validity.