NEW DELHI: Those left out of a draft list of citizens in Assam "need not worry" for now, they can vote if their name is on the electoral rolls, India's top election officer said on Wednesday.

There is a massive political controversy after the new list or National Register of Citizens (NRC) excluded 4 million people from Assam in a drive against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The ruling BJP has been accused of targeting these people for political reasons.

"Those left out of the Assam citizen's list can vote if their names are in the voter's list. The Election Commission will publish a voter list in January and will not wait for the final NRC," Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat told NDTV.

Political sparring has peaked ahead of a string of state elections and the national polls in 2019.

The draft National Register of Citizens is the result of a years-long agitation by residents of Assam demanding expulsion of immigrants from Bangladesh just over the border.

Exclusions from the list released on Monday have given ammunition to opposition parties to band together against the government.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday warned against "civil war and bloodbath".

courtesy : ndtv.com

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New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.

The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.

"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."

In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."

Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.

"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."

"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.

Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".

"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.

The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.

The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.