- Ahead of the publication of the National Register of Citizens(NRC), Election commission(EC) may revisit the criteria whether those excluded from NRC should be marked as ‘D’(Doubtful) voters.
- The system of ‘D’ (dubious or doubtful) voters was introduced in 1997 by the Election Commission.Doubtful voters are those who have been disenfranchised during electoral roll revision for their alleged lack of proper citizenship credentials.
- While ‘D’ voters continue to remain on Assam’s electoral roll,they cannot vote in an election unless their case is decided by a Foreigners Tribunal.
- However,the Government has said that those excluded from the draft NRC will be allowed to vote as exclusion from the NRC does not automatically make someone a foreigner.
- Foreigners Tribunal(FT) was set up in Assam in 1964 through the Foreigners Tribunal Order 1964.The tribunals are mandated with identifying the legal status of suspected foreigners in Assam.
