Assam National Register of Citizens coordinator Prateek Haleja to Supreme Court: ‘Election Commission won’t disturb staff involved in NRC work’  

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, recorded the submissions made by the Assam National Register of Citizens coordinator, Prateek Hajela, saying the Election Commission has agreed not to withdraw personnel involved in the NRC work.

Hajela appeared before the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton F Nariman and submitted that the NRC work would not be stopped or delayed during the Lok Sabha election.

The apex court came down heavily on the government in the previous hearing when the latter said the 167 companies need to be pulled out of Assam and stationed across the country for poll work. The court accused the government over this for trying to “destroy the NRC process.” Justice Gogoi had said the NRC was as important as the elections and both need to be conducted simultaneously.

During this hearing, Hajela told the court that there would be needed to increase the manpower for NRC work after the Lok Sabha election. Responding to this Gogoi said, “All our concern is that you complete it by July 31. How you do it is not our concern.”

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