Assam NRC Coordinator Seeks SC's Permission For Comprehensive Re-Verification Of Draft NRC Citing Serious Irregularities

In a major development, the Coordinator of the Assam State National Register of Citizens (NRC) Hitesh Dev Sarma has petitioned the Supreme Court and has sought a comprehensive re-verification of the draft NRC, reports Times of India.

In his petition, Sarma has said that the re-verification was necessary given serious irregularities detected in the final draft as well as the supplementary list. He has said that many eligible names have been left out of the list while those ineligible have been included in it.

Sarma said that the error has to be rectified, reasoning that the preparation of a correct and error-free NRC is integral to national security.

The Assam NRC coordinator has sought the top court’s permission to start the re-verification process under the supervision of a monitoring committee, represented by the respective district judge, district magistrate and superintendent of police.

It should be noted that as per Sarma’s petition, around 50,000 people who were found eligible to be included in the NRC have been left out of the final draft. Sharma has asserted that the number may increase if a detailed re-verification is done.