Assam Minister Himanta Sarma Demands Re-verification of Final NRC, Alleges Manipulation of Legacy Data

Guwahati: Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the final version of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) did not contain names of many person coming to India from Bangladesh before 1971, the cut off period.

In a series of tweets, the senior leader of the ruling BJP also alleged that the legacy data were manipulated to include names of doubtful persons as alleged by many.

"Names of many Indian citizens who migrated from Bangladesh as refugees prior to 1971 have not been included in the NRC because authorities refused to accept refugee certificates," Sarma said on the micro blogging site. "Many names got included because of manipulation of legacy data as alleged by many."

Sarma, the convenor of the NDA's North East wing NEDA, further said that the Supreme Court should allow at least 20 per cent re-verification of the names in border districts and 10 per cent in the rest of Assam as requested by the state and central governments earlier.

"I reiterate that as requested by Central and State governments at least 20% reverification (bordering districts) and 10% re-verification (remaining districts) should be allowed by Honble Apex court for a correct and fair NRC," he tweeted.

Both the governments had appealed the top court twice for sample re-verification to find out wrongful inclusions, especially in districts bordering Bangladesh, and exclusions in the NRC.

The apex court in strong words earlier this month said the entire NRC exercise cannot be ordered to be re-opened on the basis of certain parameters.

The final NRC was published on Saturday by excluding 19,06,657 persons. A total of 3,11,21,004 names were included out of 3,30,27,661 applicants.