Need for comprehensive review of NRC in Assam: CM Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that there is a need for a comprehensive review of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state.

“There is a demand across Assam to redo the NRC because last NRC, there were various factors for which we could not do it properly. Now review petition is pending before the Supreme Court…” the Assam CM said.

Speaking on the recent delimitation process in Assam, Sarma highlighted that nearly 97 out of the 126 seats have been secured for indigenous people.

“The delimitation happened in Assam recently and out of 126, we have secured almost 97 seats for the indigenous people. So that principle will continue even in the next delimitation…,” he said.

The Election Commission, earlier in August published its final report on the delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Assam, keeping their total numbers unchanged at 126 and 14, respectively.

In its final order, the poll panel has revised the nomenclature of one parliamentary and 19 assembly constituencies.

According to a statement by the poll body, 19 assemblies and two Lok Sabha constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). One Lok Sabha and nine assembly constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

It said more than 1,200 representations were considered before finalising the report. Forty-five per cent of the suggestions and objections received by the panel were addressed in the final order.
All assembly and parliamentary constituencies in the state were delimited (redrawn) based on the 2001 Census.