Guwahati, July 7: Former Assam NRC State Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah urging the Centre to withhold the results of the upcoming Census in Assam until the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is comprehensively reverified.
In a letter dated July 7, Sarma, a retired IAS officer, argued that publishing Census figures before completing an NRC re-verification would produce what he described as a “distorted” demographic picture of the state.
Sarma, who served as the State Coordinator of the Supreme Court-monitored NRC update, reiterated his long-standing claim that the final NRC published in August 2019 contained significant errors. He alleged that many ineligible persons were included in the register while numerous indigenous residents were excluded.
He said he had earlier informed the government about the alleged discrepancies and had also approached the Supreme Court seeking a re-verification of the NRC. According to the letter, his writ petition (WP(C) 740/2025) has been admitted by the apex court.
The retired bureaucrat also claimed that the 19.06 lakh people excluded from the final NRC were much lower than the actual number of illegal immigrants, citing estimates previously referred to in Parliament. He urged the Centre to order a fresh verification exercise before finalising Census data for Assam.
The Centre has announced that the nationwide Census will begin in August 2026.
In his letter, Sarma contended that Census results should be withheld until the NRC is reverified and the records of persons identified as illegal foreigners are removed. He argued that this was necessary in the interests of national security and to safeguard Assam’s demographic profile.
The NRC was updated in Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court to identify Indian citizens and detect illegal immigrants. The final list, published on August 31, 2019, excluded 19.06 lakh applicants. The register, however, has not yet been officially notified by the Centre, and successive governments have indicated that it contains errors requiring correction.
