People excluded from NRC eligible to vote: CEC

GUWAHATI: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora on Wednesday clarified that persons excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam but having their names in the voters’ list  would be eligible to exercise their franchise in the state Assembly elections.

Replying to a query during a media conference here, Arora, citing a home ministry notification of August 29, 2019, said that “the notification issued by the MHA clearly states that non-inclusion of a person’s name in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) does not by itself amount to him/her being declared a foreigner.”

“By implication, such persons remain in the voters’ list and shall be eligible to vote until a decision is taken by the concerned tribunal,” the CEC said.

As many as 19, 06,657 people have been excluded from the NRC final list in Assam (published in August 2019), out of 3, 30, 27,661 applicants, while a total of 3, 11, 21,004 names were included.