GUWAHATI: The National Register of Citizens ( NRC ) authorities will kickstart on March 20 the process of issuing rejection slips to those left out of the final draft of the register published last year. In the first phase, around 400,000 people who did not apply will get rejection slips, said people aware of the matter.Assam’s parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, replying on behalf of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who is also in charge of the home department, said in a written reply to a question in the state assembly that the rejection slip will mention the reasons for excluding a person’s name from the final NRC.The final NRC, published in August last year, had found a total of 31,121,004 persons eligible for inclusion in the registry, leaving out 1,906,657 persons. Nearly seven months on, the process of issuing of slips has yet to start.“Around 330 million people had applied for inclusion in NRC and nearly four million people were excluded in the draft NRC published on July 30 last year,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified. “Around 3.6 million people have submitted their claims for inclusion. Roughly 400,000 people remained out of it as they did not apply.These 400,000 people will be sent rejection slips with the reason that due to non-submission of requisite papers their names are not there in the final NRC list.”The process will be completed in three phases, said the official. “We have yet to get a fix on how to proceed as although the inclusion of several people was cleared by officers concerned, their names were deleted later… We have written to the Registrar General of India, seeking direction on how to navigate these discrepancies.”Those who get the rejection slip can move the foreigners’ tribunal within 120 days for further claims. The NRC has yet to be notified. “If one loses the case in the tribunal, the person can move the high court and, then, the Supreme Court,” said the official. The NRC has been prepared under Section 4A of the Citizenship Act.