Assam government will move SC again for re-verification of NRC, says Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that his government would approach the Supreme Court again for a re-verification of the National Register of Citizens, The Hindu reported. In an interview to the newspaper, the newly elected chief minister said the government will move the court seeking re-verification for up to 20% of entries in areas bordering Bangladesh and 10% for interior regions.

“If the NRC checks out then we shall do nothing,” Sarma said. “But if there are discrepancies, we will ask for the Supreme Court’s guidance on the issue. We have been saying this for a while and we stand by this.”

In July 2019, the Assam government and the Centre had moved the Supreme Court for a re-verification exercise but that was dismissed after Prateek Hajela, who conducted the exercise in the state, had submitted that 27% of the names were already verified again.

Ahead of the recently held Assam elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party, in its manifesto, had said it will undertake a process of “correction and reconciliation of entries” in the NRC.

More than 19 lakh people were left out of the final list of the Assam NRC that was published on August 31, 2019. The number of people left out comprised around 6% of Assam’s entire population. Some of those…

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