GUWAHATI, July 1 - With the date for publication of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) drawing closer, the Central and State Governments will have to formulate a clear cut policy on the fate of the persons whose names will not be included in the citizenship document. At the same time, the Election Commission (EC) will have to take a call on the revision of the electoral rolls.
Highly placed official sources told The Assam Tribune that after the publication of the final draft of the NRC, one month�s time would be given for submitting claims and objections. The final NRC will be published after the disposal of the claims and objections. Though the date for publication of the final NRC is yet to be declared, it is likely that it will be published by the end of this year, but so far, the Central and State Governments have not been able to come up with a clear cut policy on the fate of the persons whose names will not be included in the NRC.
Sources said that as certain sections have already started raising the issue in the national and even international level, sooner the Central and State Governments come out with a clear cut policy will be better for not only for Assam but also for the entire country. Though the exact number of applicants whose names will not appear in the draft is yet to be ascertained as the compilation work is still on, it is evident that the applications of a substantial number of persons will be rejected as a number of forged or fake documents have already been detected during the process of verification.
Sources admitted that all those, whose applications for inclusion of names would be rejected even after filing of claims following the publication of the final draft, would not be termed as foreigners as they would have the option of moving the Foreigners� Tribunals. But if the Tribunals also dismiss their cases, what will be their fate is the question which will have to be answered by the Government. It will not be possible to drive them away from the country and de-franchising them is an option which is being debated at different forums. However, the Government will have to announce a policy before the publication of the final NRC.
It is also a fact that the existing voters� lists are not correct as during the process updating the NRC, it has come to light that substantial number of doubtful citizens managed to get names included in the voters� lists. Even persons declared as foreigners by Foreigners� Tribunals managed to get names included in the voters� lists and produced voters� identity cards along with applications. There were instances where persons declared as foreigners managed to get names included in the voters� lists by using different names. Following the publication of the final NRC, the Election Commission will have to take a decision on thoroughly revising the voters� lists on the basis of the NRC, sources pointed out.
