Those excluded from Assam NRC list can vote- CEC Arora

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that as per the guidelines issued by the Union Home Ministry, those people whose names were not included in Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) could also exercise their voting rights in the assembly polls scheduled in the state this year.The Chief Election Commissioner was talking to newspersons in Guwahati today after holding a series of discussions with various stakeholders. A full team of Election Commission led by the Chief Election Commissioner was on a three-day visit to the state to take stock of poll preparedness in Assam.  Arora said, voting rights of the people should not be affected as already been cleared by the Home Ministry. 
He said, the Election Commission is committed to conducting a free, fair, peaceful, transparent, ethical and COVID safe election in the State. Arora said that the Commission has directed the electoral machinery of Assam to gear up with due logistics arrangements. He said that the Assam Assembly polls will be held keeping in mind the Rongali Bihu festival and the process will be finished before the CBSE Board exams scheduled to begin on 4 May. “The home ministry notification of 29 August, 2019, clearly states that non-inclusion of a person’s name in NRC does not by itself amount to him/her being declared a foreigner,” Arora said.