Thousands more struck off from Assam NRC list

■ More claims & objections filed as deadine draws near

With only six days left for filing claims and objections on the National Register of Citizens, the process has started picking up momentum with nearly 10.20 lakh people filing claims so far. However, the process of filing objections to those included in the draft NRC has still been very slow, with only 234 objections filed.

Sources in NRC offices said that thousands of more names have been struck off from the draft NRC as the scrutiny of records of foreigners tribunals has found that the names of some persons who were declared foreigners and cases against whom are pending before the tribunals were included in the draft.

Persons whose names are not in the final NRC have the right to appeal before the foreigners’ tribunals and their names would be included if they are cleared, sources said.

Clarifying that updating the NRC would have to be a continuous process as the names of

◗ Persons whose names are not in the final NRC have the right to appeal before the foreigners’ tribunals

children who were born after the cutoff date for filing applications would have to be included in the citizenship document, NRC office sources said on an average, 40,000 to 50,000 claims were filed every day over the past one week and till date around 10.20 lakh claims had been filed. It is significant that the names of over 40 lakh people were not included in the final draft of the NRC.

Pointing out that the process of filing of objections had not picked up despite the fact that a number of political parties and organisations have been claiming that the names of a large number of foreigners were included in the draft NRC, sources said that deputy commissioners had been authorised to accept the objections, but only 234 objections were filed as yet. Sources said

that all claims and objections would be digitised and notices would be sent to all concerned to appear at the hearings to be held from February 1 next year. Sources admitted that ensuring that the notices reach the persons concerned on time and giving them adequate time to appear for the hearings would be a challenging process.