Assam has asked the Election Commission (EC) to wait for the final release of its National Register of Citizens (NRC) before starting the special revision of the voter list in the state. Officials said Assam has already done a detailed citizenship verification through the NRC, and once it is finalized, the NRC could be used as proof of citizenship during the electoral roll update. This request could delay the revision process in Assam.
The NRC in Assam is a long-running and sensitive exercise to identify Indian citizens and separate them from illegal migrants. Since the draft NRC was published in 2019, nearly 19.6 lakh people were left out from 3.3 crore applicants.
However, the Assam government, led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has raised concerns that the NRC has mistakes. Sarma said the list wrongly excludes many indigenous people and includes a large number of foreigners. The government wants more reverification, especially in border districts.“The NRC is about to be released. It will be out in a month or two, most likely by October,” said a source from the Assam government.
“We feel the NRC data, as it has been prepared after verification — and with reverification also in process — will be a perfect document for proving citizenship. It can be one of the documents to be considered for the intensive revision.”
The Election Commission recently announced a nationwide revision of electoral rolls, starting with Bihar. This move has sparked controversy, with opposition parties accusing the EC of using the revision to check citizenship, calling it an “NRC through the backdoor.”
Some have challenged the EC’s authority to verify citizenship in court, but the Supreme Court allowed the revision to continue, while advising the EC to consider multiple documents like Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards.
Assam officials say since the NRC was already a citizenship verification exercise supervised by the Supreme Court, it should be taken into account before the electoral roll revision begins.
The EC has not yet responded to Assam’s request. When asked, Chief Minister Sarma said there has been no official communication with the EC on this matter.
