No automatic scrapping of citizenship, those left out of Assam NRC need not worry: CEC

In an interview to The Indian Express, Rawat has said the electoral roll is governed by a separate law and exclusion from the final NRC would not mean “automatic removal” from Assam’s voters' list.

His statement came a day after the complete updated draft of NRC in Assam was published with more than four million names being dropped out. This created a huge controversy and political acrimony across the country..

Rawat said that such voters, despite their absence from the final NRC, will continue to be on the state’s electoral roll if they can produce to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) "sufficient documents" regarding citizenship of India at least for 18 years as on January 2019 and prove  that they are residents of the Assembly constituencies they want to enroll.

He told NDTV that  Those left out of a new list of citizens in Assam "need not worry"  as they can vote if their names are on the electoral rolls and they meet all other conditions.

"Those left out of the Assam citizen's list can vote if their names are in the voter's list and they fulfill all conditions. The Election Commission will publish a voter list in January and will not wait for the final NRC," Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat told NDTV.

"Nothing changes now," he said, adding that the election panel is coordinating with the NRC.

As for those who are neither in the final NRC nor have challenged their exclusion in court, it will be the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) who will decide their fate based on criteria laid down in the Representation of People Act of 1950.

“This is a quasi-judicial decision based on evidence and documents. He (ERO) has to decide whether he (the voter absent from NRC) should remain (in the voters’ list) or not,” The Indian Express quoted Rawat as saying.

The EC has directed the Assam Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to reach out to the state coordinator of NRC, Prateek Hajela, to synchronise the summary revision of Assam’s electoral roll with the process of claims and objections to the draft NRC.

The EC’s electoral roll will be published on January 4, 2019. The final list of the NRC will be published by December this year. The Commission expects a preliminary report from the CEO in a week.

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, made it clear that the legal process will have to be followed after giving the due opportunity to those whose names are missing.

It said those dropped out from the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam on the ground of nationality,  must get a fair chance to prove their claims. 

The top court also asked the Centre to lay down the standard operating procedure on NRC and submit it for approval.