GUWAHATI: Lok Sabha MP and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief, Badruddin Ajmal said that 40.7 Lakh people not making it to the final NRC draft could be a conspiracy to bring down the number of voters in minority-dominated areas in Assam .

Ajmal, who is also the president of Assam State Jamiat Ulema (ASJU), said here that 40.7 Lakh is a “significantly” large number and could impact voters in minority-dominated areas especially when panchayat election is due. He said that it could also reduce the number of MLAs and MPs from minority-dominated constituencies in the state.

“Forty lakh is not a small number. We suspect a conspiracy to reduce the numbers of voters in minority areas in elections. Then the number of MLAs and MPs from minority areas will also come down. As delimitation of constituencies did not happen, we suspect it would be a move to bring down the minority voters. We didn’t expect that such a large number of people will be left out,” Ajmal said here after the release of final NRC draft.

Register general of India, Sailesh said that Election Commission of India is the competent authority to decide about their voting rights of those who have been left out in the final draft.

The state government had said that people who could not make it to the final draft would enjoy all the rights.

However, the AIUDF chief hoped that through claims and objections majority of the 40.7 Lakh people will be included in the final NRC.

“We thanked the Supreme Court for its direction to update the NRC of 1951. AIUDF and ASJU have always welcomed the updating of NRC because we want the problem of non-nationals should be solved once and for all. But we also want that Indian citizens should not go through harassment in the name of detection of foreigners,” Ajmal said.

Ajmal said that for many especially those from the marginalised sections of the society it has become a matter of life and death to get their names included in the NRC.

“So, our humble appeal to the NRC authorities is that they should be meticulous enough in ensuring Indian citizens are not excluded during claims and objections process. For the poor Indian citizens it may be a matter of life and death,” Ajmal said.

