Assam NRC row: Those who applied for Indian citizenship till 31 August, 2015 eligible to make claims, says official

Guwahati: People who submitted applications to prove their Indian citizenship till the last date of 31 August, 2015 but were excluded in the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft are only eligible to file claims and objections, an official at the NRC Assam coordinator’s office said Monday. Those who have not applied till 31 August, 2015 cannot apply between 10 August and 28 September, fixed for filing claims and objections, the NRC official told PTI. “A decision for those who could not submit their applications in 2015 will be taken according to the directive of the Supreme Court after the final NRC is published,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_4853491” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The final NRC will be published only after disposal of all claims, objections and corrections, and the date for its publication will be fixed by the Supreme Court. “Many eminent people like former Chief Minister Anwara Taimur and relatives of former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had not submitted their applications within the stipulated time and consequently their names are missing from the list,” he had said. The final NRC will retain names of only those persons born till the last date of submission of the applications. “Inclusion of any child born to the applicant after 31 August, 2015 cannot be done through claims,” he said. “Similarly, if an applicant died after application form is submitted and if eligible, their names will not be excluded from the final NRC,” he said. Claims and objections must be submitted to the Local Registrar of Citizen Registration (LRCR) at the NRC Seva Kendras and not online, but corrections can be made online. “Claims can be submitted only at the NSKs where the people had originally submitted their applications even if there has been a change of address after the submission of the form,” the official said. The claim can be submitted with additional documents or with the same documents submitted earlier. “The objections can be submitted only at the NSKs covering the residence of a person and that will require grounds for objections,” he said. Forms for claim, objection and correction will be made available at the NSKs and can be downloaded from the NRC website from 10 August. There will be separate forms for claim, objection and correction. The final draft of the NRC was published on July 30 and included the names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 applicants with more than 40 lakh people being left out.