GUWAHATI: Thousands of people left out of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) are queuing up in NRC seva kendras to get the claim forms for reapplying for citizenship. Several others are taking separate forms for raising objections against people whom they have been wrongfully included while many are crowding to get the forms for correction of errors like the spelling of their names, addresses and other details.

The draft NRC published on July 30 contained names of 2,89,83,677 and left out 40,70,707 as ineligible for inclusion. Among these excluded names, 37,59,630 names have been rejected for want of proof of nationality but have now a second chance to stake a claim.

The remaining 2,48,077 excluded names comprise people marked as “doubtful” voters by Election Commission and their descendants and people, who have been referred to Foreigners’ Tribunals, and their descendants have been kept on hold. They do not have to claim because their nationality will be decided by the tribunals.

The process started of distribution of these three categories of forms started on Monday at the 2500 seva kendras across the state. These seva kendras will start receiving these applications from August 30 till September 28.

The date for start of disposal of claims and objections and rectifying errors will be announced by the Supreme Court on August 28. The ministry of home affairs, which submitted the SOP for resolving the claims and objections in the court, has been asked to come back again before August 28 with views and opinion of seven ‘stakeholders’—principal petitioner Public Works, Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha (an indigenous people’s organization of Assam), pro-talk militant outfit, National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Progressive), Indigenous Tribal Peoples Federation, All Assam Bhojpuri Parishad, Joint Action Committee for Bengali Refugees, All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) and Jamait Ulama-i-Hind.

