Assam NRC: No extension beyond July 31 says SC

New Delhi, Jan 24: The Supreme Court has said that it would not extend the July 31 deadline for the publication of the final Assam NRC under any circumstance.

The court was informed that out of the 40 lakh persons left out of the draft NRC, as many as 32.2 lakh have filed claims for inclusion of their names in the final NRC. At the same time around 2 lakh objections have been registered against names included in the draft NRC, the court also told. It was also informed that notices to claimants had been issued.

The hearing would begin from February 15 onwards, the court was also told.
The SC then requested the NRC state coordinator, Election Commission of India and Assam Chief Secretary to ensure that the NRC finalisation process and parliamentary elections go on simultaneously.

In Assam, around the people who were left out of the final draft of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) have applied again for the inclusion during the claims and objections that ended in December.

The window for 40.07 lakh out of the 3.29 crore applicants excluded from the complete draft was opened on September 25. The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the entire exercise extended the last date from December 15 to December 31. The extension was granted after the Assam government said that the panchayat elections had robbed people and the officials of their time.