NRC quandary

The submission by the Office of the State Coordinator, National Register of Citizens (NRC) before the Gauhati High Court that more than 4,700 names of ineligible applicants have made it to the final list of the updated NRC list reveals the lax supervision by the officials concerned. The findings should be solid ground for the NRC authorities to initiate punitive action against the erring officials who had allowed such wrong inclusions in the final list. The NRC authorities, in its affidavit, submitted to the court that these wrong inclusions were detected in course of verification of 10,000 names in the final NRC list. It reveals that "Declared Foreigners", "D (Doubtful) Voters" and individuals whose cases are pending before Foreigners' Tribunals and their descendants have been included in the updated list of the citizens' register and were among these 4,700 names. The percentage of error as compared to size of the test sample is quite big and should raise the alarm that more such wrongful inclusions might have taken place.

The NRC authorities should also look into wrongful exclusion of names of genuine Indian citizens due to limitations of the paper-based verification process. However, extrapolating the findings for the entire updated roll and rushing to the conclusion that the final updated citizens' register is full of such errors will not only be unscientific but will also erroneous. More than Rs 1600 crore from the exchequer, dedicated services of over 50,000 government officials and employees since 2015 have been invested in the gigantic exercise. The Supreme Court mandated exercise led to exclusion of over 19 lakh applicants out of total applicants of 3.30 crore from the final updated list which were found to ineligible. Updating the NRC in Assam to compile a list of genuine Indian citizens and refer to it for detection of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the state was a political consensus. The Register General of India is yet to notify the final updated list due to which the Election Commission of India is unable to refer to it while carrying out revision of electoral rolls in the state. Therefore, those among the 19-lakh excluded from the updated NRC list, who are eligible to become voters will be able to exercise their franchise in 2021 Assembly polls. Delaying the publication of a correct updated NRC list will only mean allowing the illegal Bangladeshis and their descendants to continue enjoying the voting rights and influence the electoral outcomes in the state. The Manual on Electoral Rolls allows the Electoral Registration Officers to refer to the NRC, "wherever it exists", while determining the citizenship of an individual to decide on the eligibility as a voter. The Election Commission has notified the schedule of the Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in the state.

The last date for filing claims and objections to the draft notified rolls is December 15 and the Election Commission will publish the final electoral rolls on January 15 next year which will be the roll for conducting the 2021 Assembly polls in Assam. However, objections are hardly filed during such annual revision of electoral rolls. Even the parties and organizations which are vocal on the issue of illegal Bangladeshis getting their voting rights and usurping political rights, influencing election results, and posing serious existential threats refrain from filing objections against ineligible electors. Mere politicking which produces no tangible results cannot protect the interests the indigenous people and can never insulate the state from the danger of unabated influx of illegal Bangladeshi migrants that have taken place for decades. Updating the NRC list is going to be continuing exercise as the claims and objections against exclusions and inclusions will be examined and decided by the Foreigners' Tribunals and subsequently by higher judiciaries.

The NRC authorities should evolve a scientific methodology of detecting all wrong inclusions in the final list and bring to the notice of the Supreme Court to seek a directive for making necessary corrections. It should simultaneously make officials concerned accountable for such erroneous inclusions. The Central and the Assam governments too cannot abdicate their responsibilities of preparing a correct updated NRC list for the state. The wrongful exclusion detected by the NRC authorities definitely justifies the demand for reverification of the data to rule out more inclusion of ineligible applicants. However, the process of reverification of the NRC data should not be a bar to making it a base document to initiate the process of correcting the electoral rolls in the state and detection of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in accordance with the Assam Accord. The disposal of all claims and objections to entries in the updated NRC list will eventually lead to Assam getting the correct NRC list. The detection of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the state should not be perpetually delayed on one pretext or another.