Assam Pushes EC to Factor in NRC Data for Voter List Revision

The Assam government has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take into account the already completed National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in the state while conducting the upcoming special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Assam remains the only Indian state to have undergone the NRC process, and officials argue that this massive verification drive should play a role in deciding both the timeline and the list of acceptable documents for the revision.

According to reports, the state administration has communicated that the NRC, once officially published, should be recognized as one of the valid documents to prove citizenship during the SIR process. This request gains significance as the Election Commission recently announced the launch of a nationwide voter list revision starting with Bihar, a move that has sparked debate, particularly around the issue of proving citizenship.

In Assam’s case, the matter is more complex. The NRC, completed in 2019 under the watch of the Supreme Court, was meant to identify genuine Indian citizens in a state deeply affected by decades of migration-related tensions. The final draft, however, left out nearly 19.6 lakh people from 3.3 crore applicants. Since then, the Registrar General of India has not formally notified the list, and both the past and present BJP-led state governments have rejected the current version over alleged inaccuracies.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has publicly criticized the NRC, claiming it mistakenly excluded indigenous people and wrongly included many “foreigners.” The government is now seeking reverification — 20% in border districts and 10% elsewhere — before accepting any final version of the NRC.

Despite no formal correspondence with the Election Commission being confirmed by CM Sarma, insiders suggest that Assam wants the SIR to be delayed until the NRC gets finalized, something they hope will happen by October. They believe the NRC data, having gone through extensive verification, could serve as a strong basis for identifying eligible voters.

Meanwhile, controversy is brewing in Bihar where the EC’s new revision process has come under fire from opposition parties, who accuse it of turning into a citizenship test — or a “backdoor NRC.” The poll panel has asked voters registered after 2003 to furnish multiple documents to prove their citizenship and age. This has led to legal challenges in the Supreme Court, where petitioners have questioned whether the EC even has the authority to carry out such checks.

The Court has allowed the EC to continue with its revision but advised the panel to broaden the scope of acceptable documents. These now include Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, ration cards, and a total of 11 identity documents such as birth certificates, passports, school records, caste certificates, land documents, and, notably, the NRC, wherever it applies.

Also Read: ‘SIR is a Scam!’: Mass Protests Erupt in Bihar Over Voter Roll Revision Drive