The BJP-led Assam government has decided that Aadhaar cards will not be issued to applicants who or whose families had not applied for inclusion in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a move chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said was aimed at checking infiltration.

The state cabinet had taken the decision on Wednesday because of concern over infiltration from Bangladesh evident from the recent apprehension of a large number of infiltrators from the neighbouring country by police and the BSF in Assam and Tripura.

In a post on X on Wednesday night, he said: “Stricter guidelines for issuance of Aadhar to ensure infiltrators do not secure them. This will be a new deterrence against illegal infiltration.”

According to the decision, an applicant or his family members must have applied for inclusion in the NRC, a register of Indian citizens. An applicant now has to submit his NRC application receipt number (ARN) while applying for the Aadhaar card, a 12-digit individual identification number which serves as proof of identity and proof of address for residents of India and also helps the cardholder to access government benefits and schemes.

If an applicant or his family cannot submit the ARN number, their application will not be accepted.

Sarma said the state government will come up with a detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) for obtaining Aadhaar cards by next week but he asserted obtaining Aadhaar will not be easy in Assam due to the strict verification process for new applicants.

Sarma in his post on X said the new move will “ensure the genuineness of Aadhaar applicants” while sharing that the General administration Department would be the nodal agency for the implementation of the SOP and that state government will verify the submitted documents and send them to the UIDAI within 45 days of receipt.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority responsible for the issuance of Aadhaar numbers.

Sarma further said that additional district commissioners will oversee the Aadhaar enrolment verification at the district level while circle officers will manage the verification at the revenue circle level.

“Inspection officers appointed by the Circle Officers will ascertain whether applicants have applied for NRC in the state of Assam. Inspection officials must verify whether the applicant resides at the submitted address. The requirement of NRC application will not be be applicable to govt officials serving in the state,” Sarma said in his X post.

The chief minister has told a section of mediapersons that the Centre has given its nod to state government to put in place necessary checks before the issuance of Aadhaar card.

According to him, there are four districts — Barpeta, Dhubri, Nagaon and Morigaon — where Aadhaar applicants were more than the population of the district, raising doubts about the presence of doubtful citizens.

The chief minister had in September revealed the government’s plan to link NRC with Aadhaar in September.

Move questioned

TMC MP Sushmita Dev on Thursday posted on X: “Till date NRC has not been notified by Registrar General of India & yet it is the basis for AADHAR. Secondly even Non citizens in India get AADHAR cards if they have stayed 182 days in the 12 months before applying Lastly unless the Gov. declares a person an illegal migrant how can they refuse AADHAR. Assam is a banana republic under @himantabiswa& @BJP4India.”

Former NRC state coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma also told The Telegraph: “The Aadhaar Act clearly says it has no link with citizenship of a person, it can be obtained by an ordinary resident. The state government has no role in accepting or rejecting claim unless the Aadhaar Act is amended. If anybody is rejected for not having applied for NRC, he/she can challenge it in the court and he/she will win going by the Aadhaar Act.”