Assam government still wants 're-verification' of NRC applicants, NGO claims 80 lakh foreigners included

The fate of the updated NRC in Assam looks hazy with the BJP-led government in the state on Monday again pitching for "sample re-verification" of the applicants included in the final list, which was released on August 31 last year.

Replying to written questions by Sherman Ali, an MLA of the opposition All India United Democratic Front during the autumn session of the Assembly, cabinet minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said the state government had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in July last year seeking sample re-verification of 20% applicants in the districts bordering Bangladesh and 10% of all applicants included in the final list of the NRC.

"The state government continues to remain in favour of such re-verification. No time frame has been fixed to complete the process as on date," Patowary said in his written reply in the Assembly on Monday.

The five day Assembly session began on Monday with elaborate COVID-19 safety measures.

The statement comes on a day when Assam Public Works (APW), an NGO, based on whose petition the Supreme Court had ordered for updating the NRC, claimed that 80 lakh "foreigners" had already made it to the NRC through fraudulent means. President of APW, Abhijeet Sharma, while talking to reporters in Guwahati said complete re-verification was necessary before the next Assembly elections for a flawless NRC and for deleting the names of the foreigners from voters' list.

"The Assembly election is scheduled next year. But we want to suggest that NRC should be re-verified first so that the same foreigners can not cast their votes to elect the new government. The re-verification can be done in six months, if the government wants and if required elections can be postponed for a few months," Sharma said. A petition filed by APW seeking complete re-verification of the NRC final list was also pending in the Supreme Court.

A total of 3.29 crore people had applied for inclusion of their names in the NRC, which is being updated with March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date to "detect foreigners" in Assam. Over 19.06 lakh applicants were, however, left out of the final list. They were supposed to submit claims in the foreigner tribunals with documents in favour of their Indian citizenship within 120 days after receiving a rejection slip from the NRC office to clear their names. But non-issuance of the rejection slips has delayed the process.

To Sherman Ali's question about the rejection slips, Patowary said the same was kept on hold due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the serious flood Assam faced between May and August this year.

Many, however, asked why the government did not issue the rejection slips before the pandemic hit the country. Some said BJP was dilly-dallying the exercise as most of those excluded from the NRC final list are Hindus.