1,02,462 People Excluded From Complete Draft NRC

GUWAHATI: The NRC authority on Wednesday published an Additional Draft Exclusion List consisting over one lakh people from the complete draft NRC, ahead of the publication of the final NRC on July 31. The ‘Additional Exclusion List’ to complete draft National Register of Citizens has 1, 02,462 people whose names had figured in the complete NRC draft list published in July last year but were subsequently found ineligible for inclusion in final National Register of Citizens. This is besides the 40,07,707 names that were already excluded from the complete draft National Register of Citizens published on July 30, 2018. The Additional Exclusion List has been published as per provisions contained in Clause 5 of the Schedule of ‘The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003’.

The persons whose names have appeared in the Additional Draft Exclusions List are those persons whose names were included in the Draft National Register of Citizens published on 30th July 2018, but have been subsequently found ineligible due to the following reasons:

Persons who were found to be DF (Declared Foreigner) or DV (Doubtful Voter) or PFT (persons with cases Pending at Foreigners Tribunals) or their descendants, as applicable, discovered after publication of Draft NRC; persons who were found to be ineligible while appearing as witness in hearings held for disposal of Claims and Objections; and persons who were found to be ineligible during the process of verification carried out by the Local Registrars of Citizens Registration (LRCRs) under provisions of Clause 4(3), after publication of Complete Draft NRC on 30th July, 2018.

Meanwhile, National Register of Citizens authorities informed that the Letters of Information (LOIs) will be dispatched to the persons concerned from June 27 onwards. The LOIs will be delivered at their residential addresses along with the reasons of exclusion and they will have the opportunity to file their claims which will be disposed through a hearing by a Disposing Officer. The LOIs will mention the details of the venues and dates of claim submission-cum-hearing.

The submission of claims and their disposal by the Disposing Officer through hearings will take place simultaneously. The hearings will start from July 5, 2019 onwards. The dates of hearings will also be available online in the NRC website www.nrcassam.nic.in from June 29 onwards. All such claims will be disposed thereafter and results of such persons will be declared in the Final NRC on July 31, 2019.

Starting at 10 am on June 26, the hard copies of the Additional Draft Exclusion List have been made available for public view at NRC Seva Kendras (NSK), offices of the Deputy Commissioner/ SDO (Civil)/ Circle Officer during office hours. People can also access the list online at nrcassam.nic.in.

However, Wednesday’s Additional Exclusion List of the NRC does not contain the results of claimants and objectees appearing for hearings held for disposal of claims and objections during the period from February 15 to June 26 this year. These results will be published with the final NRC slated on July 31, 2019.

Notably, the first part draft NRC was published on the midnight of December 31, 2017 in which 1.9 crore names were included out of 3,29,91,384 applicants. However, the complete draft National Register of Citizens published on July 30, 2018 featured names of 2,89,83,677 Indian citizens living in Assam who had applied for inclusion of their names in the registry.

The NRC draft list is linked to Assam’s elaborate process of weeding out foreign nationals which started in 2015. It is for the first time since 1951 that the Assam citizens’ list is being updated to account for illegal migration into Assam. The massive intricate exercise of NRC update is being carried out by the NRC authorities with close coordination of the State and Central governments and under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

The first and only NRC exercise done across the country was in Assam way back in 1951. The list then had 80 lakh citizens registered in it. It was prepared on the basis of the Census report of 1951. However, the decision to update NRC-1951 was taken on May 5, 2005 during a tripartite meeting among the Central government, State government and the All Assam Students Union (AASU). The pilot project commenced at Barpeta and Chaygaon Revenue Circles in 2010. However, the National Register of Citizens update work had to be suspended following the death of four persons in police firing in Barpeta due to a clash over the National Register of Citizens exercise. Subsequently, the Assam Public Works filed a case in the Supreme Court. Following a directive of the apex court in 2015, the NRC work is now being carried out in Assam.

Also Read: Additional list to complete draft NRC to be published today