An additional draft exclusion list published in Assam on Wednesday has brought under doubt the identity of 1,02,462 people who were earlier in the complete NRC draft list.

People who had found their names on the list “are those persons whose names were included in the Draft NRC published on 30th July 2018, but have been subsequently found ineligible”, a press release today by the NRC (National Register of Citizens) state coordinator said.

On June 20, a notification by the NRC state coordinator's office posted on its social media page and published in newspapers had talked about the exclusion list.

Midnight of March 24, 1971, is the cut-off date based on which residents of Assam have to prove their nationality and get their name included in the NRC by submitting specific documents as proof.

More than 40 lakh people were left out of the complete draft list and were given a chance to claim their citizenship in the claims and objections stage.

“The verification of the 40 lakh people excluded from the complete draft list is almost complete. Now, with the removal of another 1 lakh from that list , the total claimant figure stands at 41 lakh,” said Abdul Batin Khandakar, an activist based in Guwahati.

Those in the additional list will be given time to file their claims before the final publication of the list on July 30.

The release mentions that the hearings for the people on the exclusion list will start from July 5.

Apart from the 41 lakh whose fate is in the balance, there are another 2 lakh families whose inclusion in the draft list has been opposed by different agencies or organisations.

Going by the average number of family members, which is 4-5 in each family, the total number of people whose presence on the list has been challenged is around 9 lakh.

Verifications for these individuals is also going on along with the 40 lakh who were excluded from the draft list.

Khandekar said in all “more than 5 million (50 lakh) people are under scrutiny”.