NRC state coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma has moved the Supreme Court for a “complete comprehensive and time-bound reverification” of the draft updated citizen register following the detection of major anomalies during an internal stock-taking before issuing rejection slips to those who have been excluded in Assam.
Sarma, who took over as the NRC coordinator in December 2019, has also requested for the re-verification process to be conducted under the supervision of a monitoring committee in each district “preferably by the respective district judge, district magistrate and superintendent of police”.
The 38-page petition was filed on Tuesday, a day after Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the media that the state government wants re-verification of 20 per cent names in the NRC in the bordering districts and 10 per cent elsewhere. The draft updated list, yet to be notified by the Registrar General of India, had excluded over 19 lakh applicants.
Newly-inducted Assam Cabinet Minister Pijush Hazarika on Wednesday said that his top priority as the State’s Water Resources Minister would be to deliver on BJP’s poll promise of making Assam.
Incumbent: NDA (BJP 60, Asom Gana Parishad 14, Bodoland People’s Front 12)
Majority mark: 63
In Assam, the BJP, led by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, formed its first government in 2016 with a tally of 86 seats along with its alliance partner Asom Gana Parishad. The Congress, which had governed the state for 15 years, was reduced to 26.
This time, the BJP, Asom Gana Parishad and United People’s Party Liberal are contesting the polls in alliance, while the Congress has joined forces with traditional Left parties, Bodoland People’s Front and the All-India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). While the Congress in Bengal dithered over its alliance with the Indian Secular Front, the party’s Assam unit has been upbeat about the alliance with the largely Muslim AIUDF to take on the BJP. About 34 per cent of the population in Assam is Muslim. In North Assam, the Assam Jatiya Parishad and the Raijor Dal could eat into the votes of the NDA partner, AGP.