EC seeks to delink voter list from NRC

TT, Aug 02, 2018, New Delhi: The Election Commission has said exclusion from the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam doesn't automatically cause disenfranchisement.

"The Election Commission of India voter enrolment exercise is independent of the NRC, though they are working in sync," chief election commissioner O.P. Rawat said on Wednesday.

The commission will go by three criteria - a voter person needs to be a citizen of India, he or she should be aged above 18 on January 1 of the year of enrolment and the person should ordinarily be a resident of the Assembly constituency in which enrolment as a voter is sought, he added.

Rawat later told NDTV: "Those left out of the Assam citizen's list can vote if their names are on the voter list. The Election Commission will publish a voter list in January and will not wait for the final NRC."

The poll panel chief said that for the 2019 general election, the revised list with effect from January 4, 2019, will be taken into consideration.

"The ECI, with its objective of 'no voter to be left behind', has asked the chief electoral officer of Assam to coordinate closely with the NRC state coordinator to ensure that all eligible persons are included in the electoral roll during the 2019 summary revision," Rawat said.