Guwahati: Avaaz, the US-based community campaign portal that faced flak in Assam for comparing the update of the National Register of Citizens with Rohingya genocides in Myanmar, on Saturday said the claims and objections period provided for those excluded from the final draft is "riddled with problems."

Five days after the draft NRC was released which excluded over 40 lakh applicants, Julie Deruy, a Paris-based campaigner of Avaaz, in an email to The Telegraph said that "despite assurances of legal recourse for people excluded from the list, the NRC's claims and objections period is riddled with problems".

She claimed there was no "effective" apellate body, the time allotted for claims was insufficient and there were no standards or instructions for the appeal.

"It appears that the same person who denied the initial application will also be hearing the appeal, and can dismiss it with a speaking order. Applicants have been asked to file a separate form to find out why they were kept off the NRC list, hear a response and then file their defense ( sic). This overlaps with an already limited time, likely shorter than two months," Deruy said.

Avaaz's online campaign, India: Stop Deleting Muslims, had angered NRC officials as it alleged it was an exercise to delete names of seven million Muslims. It also left officials worried as 7.19 lakh users had signed the petition between July 12 and 25 and it went viral on social media. More than 8.19 lakh users have signed the petition so far.

Avaaz's statement said, "Assam's deletion of people from the citizenship rolls, in particular Bengali Muslims, bears stark parallels with Myanmar's removal of Rohingya rights and protections in 1982. This is partly why experts, including Genocide Watch and several UN Special Rapporteurs have warned of the dangers of this NRC process." NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela had earlier said a "well-organised international racket" was involved in defaming India's image by comparing the NRC exercise to Rohingya genocides.

He had stressed it was a historic exercise carried out under the supervision of the Supreme Court to list Indian citizens irrespective of religion. "It has been made clear by the Supreme Court that no action will be taken based on the draft list," he said.

Those who did not find their names in the final draft NRC would be able to submit claims from August 30 to September 28.