Supreme Court issues notice to Tripura govt, Election Commission and others on plea seeking NRC in state

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India and the Election Commission of India, on a plea seeking National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Tripura, reports have said. The notice has been issued by a bench led by the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, reported CNN News18 .

According to India Today, the petition sought fencing of the Bangladesh-Tripura border and deportation of illegal immigrants. [caption id=“attachment_5269791” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Supreme Court. PTI[/caption] According to CNN-News18, the petition has been filed by the Tripura People’s Front (which is a regional party in the state) and two other individuals. The petition also claims that an influx of immigration from Bangladesh is worse in Tripura, than in Assam. On 27 September, a delegation of Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura, led by its President Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl, met Home Minister Rajnath Singh demanding an exercise to update the NRC in the state. “However, no assurance of any kind was given by the Union Home Minister regarding the implementation of NRC in the state of Tripura,” A Bharat Bhushan Babu, the spokesperson of the ministry, tweeted on Friday. Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Saturday had said that he will go in for National Register of Citizens (NRC) in his state if the exercise was successfully implemented in Assam. The Supreme Court-monitored update of the NRC is an exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals living in the state of Assam. The Assam NRC draft features the names, addresses and photographs of all Indian citizens who have been living in the northeastern state since before 25 March, 1971. The list has been updated for the first time since 1951 to account for illegal migration from Bangladesh.