Guwahati: As the day for publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) approaches on August 31, all major stakeholders have expressed apprehension over how "free and fair" the list would be. Barring AASU, all major political parties, including BJP, Congress and AIUDF, have expressed fear that names of many genuine Indian citizens might be left out while those of the illegal foreigners may be included. Similar doubts have also been voiced by the original petitioner- Assam Public Works (APW)- whose writ petition before the Supreme Court led to the NRC updation under the supervision of the apex court. "As the original petitioners in the NRC case, we are not happy with the process. We had requested the Supreme Court for hundred per cent re-verification but our demand was denied", the NGO APWs President- Abhijeet Sarma- told PTI on Thursday. This is going to be an incomplete NRC and "we are scared that the names of many illegal foreigners will be there while genuine Indian citizens may be left out", he said.

"If post-NRC names of illegal foreigners are in the list- who will take responsibility for this. The NRC State Coordinator should be held responsible for this", he added. There are still two NRC related cases pending in the constitutional bench of the supreme court and "we wanted these cases to be disposed off before the publication of the final NRC. We waited for nearly 35 years, why not for two or three months more for a foreigner-free NRC", Sarma said. The ruling BJP, which had made "a foreignerfree NRC" a major election plank at both the Lok Sabha and assembly polls, recently expressed worry that names of illegal foreigners might make it to the NRC and also accused the State Coordinator Prateek Hajela of "acting unilaterally in consultation with just two to three organizations".