Assam NRC: Additional exclusion list to draft NRC published, 1,02,462 new names added

An additional exclusion list comprising the names of 1,02,462 persons to the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published in Assam on Wednesday. The persons whose names appear in the additional exclusion list are the ones who were included in the draft NRC published on July 30 last year, but subsequently found ineligible.

According to a statement issued by the state coordinator of NRC, the list has been published as per provisions of Clause 5 of the Schedule of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules 2003.

The draft published on July 30, 2018 included the names of 2.9 crore people out of total applications of 3.29 crore. Forty lakh people were left out in the draft. The NRC in Assam is being updated under the monitoring of the Supreme Court and the final list is scheduled to be released on July 31.

Earlier last month, a vacation bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose told state coordinator Prateek Hajela that even though the July 31 deadline for publication of final Assam NRC has to be adhered to, the claims and objections must be dealt with as per the law.

Referring to "disturbing" media reports regarding the procedure to deal with claims and objections, the bench said although the media is not always correct, sometimes it is right as well. The apex court said it has gone through the progress report filed by the state coordinator in the matter and the work is going on.

The top court had on May 8 made it clear once again that it will not extend even by a day the July 31 deadline for finalisation of the NRC in Assam and had given a "free hand" to the state coordinator to deal with complaints.

The first draft of Assam NRC was published on the intervening night of December 31, 2017 and January 1 in accordance with the top court's direction. Names of 1.9 crore people out of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated then. Assam, which had faced influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state to have an NRC, first prepared in 1951.