Exclusion from Assam NRC won't mean automatic removal from voter list: EC

Names of over 4 million people in Assam were excluded from the draft NRC list, prepared following a long-drawn process to identify illegal Bangladeshis living in the state.

NEW DELHI: Amid a political storm over the final draft of National Register of Citizens in Assam, the Election Commission on Wednesday said the names of those who were left out from the NRC list in Assam will not be removed from the voter list. The poll panel said an exclusion from the NRC list would not automatically result in removal of from the electoral rolls as registration of voters is decided by the election laws. "This is just a draft NRC. Now, those who were excluded from the list will get a chance to file objections and claims. Then the final list of NRC will be published. Only after that, it can be debated whether they will get the citizenship rights or not," Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat said. "Until it's established that they're not eligible (to vote), their names would continue to be in the voter list," he said. The CEC said the chief electoral officer of Assam will give a factual report in the coming week on various aspects arising out of the publication of the final draft NRC. He said people excluded from the NRC would not be automatically removed from the electoral rolls of Assam as registration as a voter governed by 3 criteria as under the Representation of the People Act, 1950. First they need to be citizen of India, secondly they should be above 18 years of age on January 1 of the year of enrolment, and third, they should ordinarily be a resident of the legislative assembly constituency in which enrolment as a voter is sought. The complete draft of the NRC, published earlier this week, in Assam has included 2,89,83,677 people out of a total 3,29,91,384 applicants. Names of around 40.07 lakh applicants did not figure in the document. (With PTI inputs)