Sugat Srivastava
On 1st January 2018, the first draft of the updated NRC was released. In this list, 1.9 crore names out of total applicant pool of 3.29 crores were listed. Seven months later, in its final draft, 40.07 lakhs were left out and remaining 2.89 crores were found eligible for citizenship. This list was released on Monday. 2.48 lakh applicants were put on hold and labelled them as D-voters.
What is NRC?
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the list of Indian citizens of a certain state. It was first prepared in 1951, considering the census of 1951. For a person’s name to be included in the updated NRC list of 2018, he/ she will have to furnish:
- Existence of name in the legacy data: The legacy data is the collective list of the NRC data of 1951 and the electoral rolls up to midnight of 24 March 1971.
- Proving linkage with the person whose name appears in the legacy data.
This time, the state is Assam and the cutoff is 24th March 1971. The reason for this date is that the biggest wave of immigration from Bangladesh occurred after the war of 1971 when the Pakistan army crackdown forced many to flee to India. The Assam Accord of 1985 that ended the six-year anti-foreigners’ agitation decided upon the midnight of March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date.
What are D-Voters?
D-Voters are doubtful or dubious voters who are stuck in between. They could be tagged as ‘foreigners’ or become full citizens. Their status is pending. They are 2.48 lakhs in number. The state has not yet revealed the reason why they are on hold.
What Next for left outs?
Left outs will have to file for claims and objections and submit relevant documents for re-verification. The NRC office will issue claim forms from August 7 to 30, and these applicants would have to submit the forms from August 30 to September 28. Documents verification and rejection would again take place. Rejected ones will be heard in the Foreigners’ Tribunal in the High Court.
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