'Ineligible persons' in final NRC list spurs review demand in Assam

A report from the Assam NRC state co-ordinator about the presence of "ineligible persons" in the final list has spurred demand for re-verification of the entire exercise that incurred an expenditure of over Rs 1,200 crore and nearly five years of gruelling work.

The letter issued by Hitesh Dev Sarma, the new state co-coordinator on Wednesday asked all Deputy Commissioners and District Registrar of Citizens Registration to submit details of the ineligible persons, who were included in the final list released on August 31 last year. The letter said the details were required for submission to the Registrar General of India urgently, which is carrying out the NRC exercise under the Supreme Court's supervision.

"..It has come to the knowledge of the undersigned that after publication of final NRC on August 31, 2019, few names of ineligible persons are found present in the final NRC, particularly the DV (doubtful voters), DF (declared foreigners), PFT (cases pending in foreigners’ tribunal), DVD (descendants of DV), DFD (descendants of declared foreigners) and PFTD (cases of declared foreigners pending in foreigner tribunals)," the letter said.

This comes days after Assam Public Works (APW), an NGO submitted a petition in the Supreme Court (on Monday) seeking 100 percent re-verification of the NRC claiming that the final list contained names of nearly 80 lakh foreigners. The Supreme Court in 2009 had issued an order for updation of the NRC in Assam, while acting on a PIL by APW.

"We have been repeatedly said that the final NRC list contain names of foreigners. We have submitted petition in the Supreme Court and filed FIRs too about how names of foreigners including Jihadis were included with fake documents. The letter by the new state co-ordinator proves our claims. Now the ball is in the government's court (Centre and Assam government) on how it can convince the Supreme Court to carry out 100 percent re-verification of the final list," APW president, Abhijeet Sharma told DH on Saturday.

The BJP-led government in the state also rejected the final list on the same contention. Before the release of the list, the state government had sought 20 percent verification of the districts bordering Bangladesh but the apex court rejected the plea.

The final list of the NRC excluded over 19.06 lakh persons for failing to prove that they or their forefathers lived in Assam or any other parts of the country on or before March 24, 1971--the cut-off decided to detect foreigners in Assam.