SC to consider claims, objections deadline extension

As the claims and objections window comes nearer to its deadline, Assam government has approached the top court seeking an extension of the deadline beyond December 15. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has assured that the court, which is supervising the massive exercise in Assam, will consider their request.

Just over 10 lakh people out of the total 40 lakh excluded in the draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam have been able to submit applications for the inclusion of their names in the final list.

The rest have blamed the complexity of the process set by the Supreme Court which they say has made it difficult for them to prove their citizenship.

According to the 2011 census, Assam's total population is over 3.11 crore. In July, the NRC draft listed 2.8 crore people, leaving out about 40 lakh applicants. The Supreme Court had said "claims and objections" can be submitted by December 15 and fixed a standard operating procedure (SOP).

Initially, the top court had allowed 10 documents and the applicants could submit any one of them to prove their credentials, but on November 1, five more documents were added to the list, including the 1951 NRC, electoral roll up to March 24, 1971 and ration card.