The Opposition Congress will provide legal assistance to the people whose names do not figure in the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), to be published on Saturday.

Assam PCC president Ripun Bora also appealed to the people of the state to maintain peace and harmony during and after the publication of the final list.

“We want an error-free NRC where all the names of genuine Indians will be included. Not a single illegal foreigner will be included. Having said that, as the draft lists which were published in the past have seen genuine Indian people excluded, we would like to say that those indigenous and genuine Indians whose names will not be there in the list need not worry and panic. We will provide all the possible help to them,” Bora said on Monday.

The NRC is being updated for the first time after 1951 in the state in a bid to identify “illegal citizens” residing in the state. It is being updated under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and it has left out more than 41 lakh people out of the 3.29 crore applicants.

The NRC update is a result of the six-year long Assam agitation in 1980s to drive out the illegal foreigners from Assam after the indigenous people felt the identity crisis from the large-scale infiltration from the neighbouring Bangladesh.

The final NRC will feature the names of the individuals who have been living here before March 24 of 1971 or those whose ancestors resided before this cut-off date.

Bora said that all the lawyers and advocates of the party practicing in different places will have a meeting on Tuesday and the APCC legal cell will carry out the process.

Bora also slammed the BJP, alleging that BJP wants to halt the NRC updating process.

The Union home ministry, in a statement last week, had said it will amend the rules to increase the time limit of filing of appeals in foreigners tribunals from 60 days to 120 days. The people who will be excluded will be given a certified copy of the rejection order from the NRC authorities.

Bora said the people who will be left out should be given these copies sooner so that they can apply within the 120 days.

“Otherwise, there is no point in extending the deadline,” he added.