2019 NRC list not 'final'; 4,700 names ineligible: Report

Assam’s NRC Coordinator told Gauhati High Court that the Registrar General of India was silent on the publication of a 'Final NRC'

The final NRC list is “yet to be published” by the Registrar General of India (RGI), Assam’s NRC (National Register of Citizens) Coordinator Hitesh Sarma has told the Gauhati High Court, according to a report by The Indian Express.

Sarma, in a December 3 affidavit to the High Court, said that the RGI was silent on the publication of the “Final NRC”. He termed the published list as “Supplementary NRC” and said it included 4,700-odd ineligible names, the report stated.

In late October this year, the Gauhati High Court directed the NRC state coordinator to file a comprehensive affidavit explaining how a section of ineligible persons managed to include their names in the NRC.

In the affidavit, Hitesh Sarma sought “necessary directions for corrective measures in the interest of an error-free NRC which is of utmost importance as NRC is directly related to national security and integrity”.

Also read: NRC authorities in Assam to delete 'ineligible names' from the final list

“Rather instructions have been received for issue of rejection slips and winding up of the operation of updation of NRC. The Registrar General of India is also silent on final publication of the NRC for which it is the only authority to take action and till date, the Final NRC is yet to be published by Registrar General of India as per Clause 7 of the rules under the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules 2003,” Sarma wrote.

The final NRC list was released on August 31, 2019, by excluding the names of 19,06,657 persons. A total of 3,11,21,004 names were included out of 3,30,27,661 applicants.

As per the rules of the NRC, names of persons belonging to the categories of declared foreigners, 'D' (doubtful) voters and against whom cases are pending in Foreigners' Tribunals cannot be included in the historical document as well as with their descendants.

Soon after the final list of the updated NRC was released on August 31 last year, Assam minister and BJP's strategist in the Northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma said the NRC list would not solve the state's foreigner problem as many "foreigners" made it to the list while genuine citizens left out.

On October 13, Sarma wrote to all the deputy commissioners and the district registrars of citizen registration (DRCR) directing them to issue "speaking orders" for deletion of "ineligible" names from the final NRC as many of them and their descendants were included in the list.

Though the letter did not mention how many people's names will be excluded, sources close to the development claimed that around 10,000 people have been identified whose names were "wrongly included" in the final NRC and will now be excluded.

Though the final NRC list was made public last year, it has not been notified by the Registrar General of India yet. This leaves the historic and controversial document without any official validity.

After the publication of the final NRC, almost all stakeholders and political parties had criticised it as a faulty document alleging exclusion of indigenous people and inclusion of illegal migrants.

BJP had earlier publicly supported the NRC draft list (in which over 40 lakh left out) but sources said it was criticising the final list as most of those left out of it were Hindus, its major vote bank.

(With agency inputs)