‘Exclusion from NRC won’t mean removal from voter list’
With 40 lakh people failing to get their names on the draft National Register for Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the poll panel on Wednesday said exclusion from this list would not automatically result in their removal from the electoral rolls as registration of voters is decided by the election laws.
“This is a draft NRC. After this, in the next one month all these 40 lakh individuals will be informed about the reasons why their names were not included. After that, they can file their claims and objections, and after a decision on the claims, the final list of NRC will be published,” Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat said.
The CEC said the chief electoral officer of Assam would give a factual report in the coming week on various aspects arising out of the publication of the final draft NRC.
He said people excluded from the NRC would not be automatically removed from the electoral rolls of Assam as registration as a voter governed by three criteria as under the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
First, they need to be a citizen of India; secondly they should be above 18 years of age on January 1 of the year of enrolment, and third, they should ordinarily be a resident of the legislative assembly constituency in which registration as a voter is sought. People will have to satisfy the electoral registration officers that they are citizens of India to be part of the voter list and they can use documents available with them to support their claim.
The EC voter enrolment exercise is independent of the NRC, though authorities responsible for the two lists are working in sync.
“The EC, with its objective of ‘no voter to be left behind’, has asked CEO Assam to coordinate closely with State Coordinator NRC to ensure that all eligible persons are included in Electoral Roll during Summary Revision 2019. This way a final Electoral Roll will be published on January 4, 2019, to be used for general elections 2019,” Rawat had said on Tuesday.
NEW DELHI: The issue of Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Wednesday rocked the Rajya Sabha, amid vociferous protests by TMC members, as the House failed to complete a discussion on the issue and a reply on it by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Trinamool Congress members forced an adjournment of the Rajya Sabha for the day just after 2 PM, amid strong protests by them over the issue. The House had witnessed an adjournment in the morning too.
Soon after listed papers were laid after the House assembled in the morning, Congress members created an uproar insisting on removal from the records certain remarks made by BJP chief Amit Shah during the debate on the NRC yesterday.
Senior Congress MP Anand Sharma raised a point of order and insisted on removal of Shah's comments. Several other Congress members were also on their feet to support Sharma.
Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad too said that the record of proceedings of the House must be looked into.
Sharma said Shah, during his speech on the NRC debate, had termed all prime ministers in office after late Rajiv Gandhi as “bujhdil' (coward).
In an apparent jibe on the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party, he said one of the Prime Ministers, Atal Bihari Vajpayee belonged to the BJP. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu assured Sharma that he would go through the records and asked Shah to resume his statement, which he had not been able to complete yesterday as the House was adjourned midway due to uproar.
As Shah rose to continue his statement, there were protests from Congress and some other opposition MPS too joined them.
Naidu said it seemed some members were “not interested” in the discussion and warned Sharma that he would be named. He also advised members to maintain decorum and cooperate for orderly function of the House.
The Congress MP said he would go out of the House. To this, Naidu said, “You go”. However, Sharma stood up only to resume his seat.as some opposition members were still on their feet, Naidu adjourned the House till noon.
The House reassmbled at noon and took up the Question Hour, which went on virtually without any hitch till the lunch break. When the House reconvened at 2 PM after the lunch break, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy of the Trinamool Congress stood up and raised a point of order as BJP President Amit Shah was asked to conclude his speech. Naidu responded to the point of order, saying he has allowed Shah to complete his speech.
Roy said, “if any member who is so called upon does not speak, he shall not be entitled except with the permission of the Chair. Here, in this case, one honourable member has already spoken. How can he speak twice? There is no provision in the rules.”
Soon thereafter, Trinamool Congress members stormed the Well of the House raising slogans, with Naidu asking them to go back to their seats, saying he has allowed Shah to conclude his speech.
However, the BJP chief was unable to speak amidst the slogan shouting and disruption.
Naidu then said that the conduct of the protestors was unbecoming of Parliamentarians.
“There seems to be a system, that you spoke, you had your say, it has gone on record, now you come and disrupt the House. So you don't want to hear the reply,” Naidu said, asking Shah again to speak.
But the BJP leader said if his speaking caused “so much fear, he can let go of the opportunity” to enable Naidu to run the House.
“I know why they (opposition) do not want me to speak,” requesting Naidu to ask the Home Minister to make a statement. Then Naidu asked the Home Minister to reply to the debate.
However, the TMC members who were shouting slogans from the Well remained unrelenting. Amid the unabated slogan shouting and disruption, Rajnath Singh sought the Chair's permission to table his entire speech, saying that some members did not wish to hear the reply to the discussion on the NRC.
“As some of the members do not want the debate to continue and are not willing to hear the reply of the Home Minister, I would like to thank the Home Minister for continuously coming here for three days,” Naidu said and then adjourned the House for the day.