GUWAHATI, Aug 28 - The Left-Democratic Mancha, Assam, and the Forum Against Citizenship Act Amendment Bill for an Error-free NRC, today submitted a joint memorandum to the State Coordinator of the National Register of Citizens, Assam, alleging that names of lakhs of genuine Indian citizens have been left out of the final draft of the NRC.
The Mancha is a conglomeration of 11 political parties, while the Forum is an organisation of informed citizens.
They said in the memorandum that names of a large number of people belonging to all castes, communities and ethnic groups failed to feature in the final draft, although they had submitted proper legacy data and all other relevant documents at the time of filing their applications.
They attributed the exclusion of people�s names from the final draft to �bureaucratic bungling or inept handling of applications, coupled with highhanded and arbitrary actions by a section of LRCRs (Local Registrars of Citizens� Registration).� They said names of thousands of married women and children, who had submitted legacy data and linkage certificates, could have easily been verified with the help of the �Family Tree� formula and spot verification in their respective localities before any arbitrary exclusion. Repeated hearings in such cases were quite unwarranted, said the organisations.
They alleged that the names of applicants who had submitted legacy data of their mothers or grandmothers were also excluded in some cases, asserting that such actions amounted to brazen assaults on the dignity and equal rights of women.
Moreover, they said, the migration certificates issued in the 1964-65 period have also been rejected while evaluating the claims for inclusion in the NRC. This would certainly be a great injustice to the people who migrated and settled in Assam or elsewhere in the country before March 24, 1971, with valid documents issued by the appropriate authorities of the Union government.
What is most disturbing is the fact that when some people had gone to their respective NRC Seva Kendras (NSKs) to inquire about the reasons for exclusion of their names, a large number of such people were informed that they were marked as 'D' voters and their cases have been referred to the Foreigners' Tribunals. Hence, their names were dropped. But, the fact remained that these people had cast their votes even during the 2016 State Assembly elections, said the Mancha and the Forum.
Besides, some people were told that they were declared foreigners by the Foreigners' Tribunals, despite there being no notice served on them in this connection by the authorities. When inquiries were made to know the details of such cases, the authorities themselves maintained that they too were in the dark about such cases.
Therefore, the organisations demanded of the authorities that fresh declaration of �D� voters and referring the cases of fresh �D� voters to the Foreigners Tribunals should be stopped at least till the publication of the NRC. They also demanded public display of the lists of �D� voters and the names of the declared foreigners in the NSKs concerned with details of the case numbers, etc, in the interest of maintaining full transparency.
The organisations also demanded that only those living within the jurisdiction of their respective NSKs should be allowed to file objections against inclusion of any name in the draft.
