About 1 lakh people have been excluded. (File)
OVER ONE lakh people who were part of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) published in July last year have been found ineligible and have been named in the Additional Draft Exclusion List published on Wednesday.
“As per provisions contained in Clause 5 of the Schedule of The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, an Additional Draft Exclusion List consisting of 1,02,462 persons has been published today,” NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela said in a statement.
In the draft NRC published on July 30 last year, 2.89 crore of the 3.29 crore applicants were included, leaving out over 40 lakh people. Those excluded were given a chance to appeal in the “claims and objections” round. While nearly 36 lakh people filed their “claims”, “objections” were received against over 2 lakh people who were included in the final draft.
The Supreme Court has set July 31 as the date of publication of the final NRC.
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Checks & claims
THE FINAL draft NRC left out about 1.5 lakh who were included in the first draft. Now, over 1 lakh, who were listed in the final draft NRC, have been removed, adding to the 40 lakh found ineligible earlier. An NRC official said this was part of a “continuous process” of checks and verification. Those left out can file “claims”, for which hearings will begin July 5.
According to Hajela’s statement, those named in the Additional Draft Exclusion List were found to be Declared Foreigner (DF), Doubtful Voter (DV), persons with cases pending at foreigners’ tribunals (PFT) or their descendants, persons found ineligible after they appeared as witnesses during hearings held for disposal of claims and objections, persons found ineligible during the process of verification carried out by the Local Registrars of Citizens Registration (LRCRs) after publication of the draft NRC.
“Those persons who will be excluded will also be informed individually through Letters of Information (LOI) to be delivered at their residential addresses along with the reason of exclusion. Such persons will have the opportunity to file their claims which will be disposed through a hearing by a disposing officer. The submission of claim and its disposal by the disposing officer through a hearing will happen together. LOI will mention the details of the venue of claim submission-cum-hearing. The hearings will start from July 5, 2019 onwards. The date of hearings will also be available online on the NRC website http://www.nrcassam.nic.in from June 29, 2019 onwards. All such claims will be disposed thereafter and results of such persons will be declared in the final NRC on July 31, 2019,” Hajela said in his statement.
WATCH | Assam NRC: Over 1 lakh in additional draft exclusion list
The statement made it clear that the list does not include the results of the claims and objections round, held in February-June, which will be published in the final NRC.
The list was made available both online and at NRC Seva Kendras and DC/ SDO/ Circle Officer’s offices. While the online list did not mention the reason for exclusion, the physical copies at the NRC Seva Kendras (NSK) included them. “Once a person sees his/ her name on the website, he/ she can go to the NSK and check the reason,” said an NRC official.
The NRC, prepared in 1951, is being updated to include the names of people or their descendants who appeared in the 1951 NRC, in any of the electoral rolls, or in any of the other admissible documents issued up to the midnight of March 24, 1971.
The preparation of the draft exclusion list was approved by the Supreme Court under Clause 5 of the Schedule of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, which allows the Local Registrar of Citizen Registration (LRCR) to verify the names listed in the final draft NRC, before the publication of the final NRC.
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