A key member of the Congress-led Opposition grand alliance in Assam has sniffed a conspiracy behind the move for the reverification of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has also slammed State NRC Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma for exceeding his authority in filing an interlocutory application in the Supreme Court seeking “complete, comprehensive and time-bound reverification” of the NRC.
Mr. Sarma had on May 11 filed the application for overhauling the NRC, which had left 19.06 lakh out of 3.3 crore applicants apparently for the lack of documents establishing their citizenship.
“How can a State government officer file an application when the Supreme Court had rejected similar review petitions of the Central and State governments in 2019?” AIUDF general secretary (organisation) and MLA Md. Aminul Islam told journalists on Tuesday.
“We want to know the reason behind the latest move, whether or not the Centre and the Assam government were aware of this. The government should clarify if the State Coordinator was authorised to file the interlocutory application,” Mr. Islam said.
The AIUDF leader also found a flaw in Mr. Sarma’s claim that the published citizens’ list was a “draft” NRC.
“How can he say that when the Supreme Court, the Registrar General of India and the Union Home Ministry have already made it clear that the NRC published in August 2019 is the final document,” he said.
The AIUDF won 16 of the 20 Assembly seats it had contested, finishing with a better strike rate than major partner Congress. The latter had won 29 of the 95 seats contested.
The grand alliance had won a total of 50 seats. Constituents Bodoland People’s Front (four seats) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) won four and one seats respectively.
