Guwahati: Assam Public Works, an NGO, filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, seeking re-verification of the names enlisted in the draft National Register of Citizens in 22 districts.

In the affidavit, APW president Aabhijeet Sharma said there were a large number of anomalies during the NRC update process, due to which the names of suspected illegal migrants have been included in the final draft in 22 districts.

These are Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Chirang, South Salmara, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup, Kamrup (metro), Darrang, Udalguri, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hojai, Golaghat, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi.

He said many citizens have complained that since almost all the data-entry operators working in the NRC Seva Kendras and the NRC officials who carried out the verification in the immigrant-dominated areas were from the immigrant community, they, due to their affinity towards their own community, manipulated the verification process to include the names of suspected foreigners in the draft NRC.

In view of very high percentage of inclusion of suspected immigrants in the draft NRC in areas dominated by them, it is suspected that there have been manipulations in the family tree verification. Hence, there is a need for re-verification/cross verification of the family tree, the APW affidavit said.

During NRC update, applicants had to submit their family tree, which included their ancestors whose legacy data they had quoted in their application. Whether an applicant has submitted genuine legacy data is examined by verifying the family tree.

The 1951 NRC and electoral rolls up to midnight of March 24, 1971 are collectively called legacy data and the applicant will have to show his name or that of his ancestors in the legacy data. Inclusion of declared foreigners and their family members in the draft NRC is a very serious matter, the affidavit said.

Sachetan Nagarik Mancha, Axom, also filed a petition in the apex court, seeking re-verification of names in the draft NRC in 18 districts during disposal of claims and objections. It names 18 of the 22 districts in APW list, barring South Salmara, Udalguri, Dhemaji and Golaghat.

Upamanyu Hazarika, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and convener of Prabajan Virodhi Mancha, a forum against infiltration, welcomed the directive passed by the Supreme Court on Tuesday for 10 per cent sample verification in every district.

"There are fundamental flaws in the procedure adopted, which can be rectified only through reverification at the institutional level," he said.

AASU also welcomed the 10 per cent verification order.