Assam NRC: Deadline for NRC update extended to June 30
Centre has extended the deadline of ongoing exercise for updating the National Register of Citizens ( NRC ) in Assam to June 30.
Guwahati
The Centre on Thursday extended the deadline for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for the sixth time to June 30.
Registrar General of India Sailesh said, “The central government has considered it necessary and expedient in the public interest to complete the said enumeration in connection with the updation of the National Register of Citizens, 1951, by the 31st day of June, 2019.”
The decision has been taken as the enumeration of the updated NRC, which will be a list of bonafide citizens, could not be completed within the earlier specified deadline of December 31, 2018.
The Centre on December 6, 2013 had issued the first notification setting March 31, 2017 as the deadline. This deadline was later extended to December 31, 2017 and then to May 31, 2018, which was further extended to July 31, 2018.
On July 30 this year, the Registrar General of Citizen Registration notified that the enumeration in connection with the updation of the National Register of Citizens, 1951, in respect of the State of Assam shall be completed within the period ending December 31, 2018.
The draft NRC was published on July 30 and included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total 3.29 crore applications. The draft NRC excluded 40 lakh people.
The extension of the deadline for updating of NRC is significant given that the ruling BJP has been facing lots of flak, particularly from the Hindu Bengali groups, which suspected over 60 per cent of the applicants belonging to the community may have been left out of the draft NRC.
Concurring with the State government’s plea, the Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the deadline for filing of claims and objections with respect to the NRC. The new date for submitting the forms has been extended from December 15 to 31.
