Process for filing NRC claims and objections ends on New Year’s eve

GUWAHATI: Over 30 lakh out of 40.07 lakh people excluded from the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) filed claims for the inclusion of their names as the correction process came to and end on Monday. An NRC official said nearly 600 objections against wrongful inclusion of names were also filed.

An estimated 30 lakh people filed for inclusion of their names till Sunday and this figure is expected to go up after including the total number of applications for inclusion filed on the last day. “The 30 lakh figure excludes those who filed for inclusion on Monday. We are yet to compile the number of people who filed for inclusion on the last day. In case of objections too, we are yet to get information from the NRC Seva Kendras about the last day count,” a senior official said.

Finance and health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said the number of objections against wrongful inclusion is lower than expected. “It shows the organisations and pressure groups could not create mass awareness on filing objections. These organisations are very vocal on other issues,” Sarma said.

The process of name correction will start from January 2 and continue till January 31. The Supreme Court on December 12 extended the last date for filing claims and objections to December 31. The division bench headed by chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi passed the order in response to a petition filed by the state government. Earlier, the apex court had fixed December 15 as the last date for submission of claims and objections.

The apex court has also postponed the date for the commencement of the NRC verification process to February 15 from February 1.

The process of filing claims and objections started on September 25 after the publication of the final NRC draft on July 30. Out of the total 3.29 crore applicants, 2.9 crore could not make it to the final draft. The 40.07 lakh who were excluded were given the provision for submitting claims for inclusion in 2,500 seva kendras. Those filing for inclusion of names were not required to submit fresh documents. Similarly, objections against wrongful inclusion were allowed to be filed in the seva kendras. The NRC office has allowed submission of additional documents even if someone had already filed claims or objections prior to the SC order on the standard operating procedure on November 1.

The first draft of the SC-monitored NRC was published on December 31 last year in which 1 .9 crore names out of 3.29 crore applicants were included. The final draft was released on July 30 this year in which 40.07 lakh people out of the total number of applicants were left out of the register.