Assam Accord Implementation Minister Bhumidhar Barman told the House that there was consensus among all the parties on the cut-off date.
The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification proposing 1966 as the base electoral rolls for updating the NRC. This sparked strong protests by minority groups and the All-India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), which has 10 legislators.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi also urged the Centre during the Conference of Chief Ministers on February 7 to take the 1971 electoral rolls.
The Opposition party, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), however, said there was no need for the House to pass any fresh resolution, as the cut-off date had already been accepted and incorporated in the tripartite Assam Accord signed by the All-Assam Students' Union (AASU), the Centre and the State government.
The AGP alleged that confusion had been created by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre when it said that the 1951 NRC would be updated by taking the electoral rolls prior to 1971, and this could be removed simply by the State government taking up the matter with the Centre.
It accused the ruling party of lacking the will and sincerity to implement various clauses of the Assam Accord.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) member Ananta Deka urged the State government to initiate measures to settle the cut-off date.
Mr. Deka said there was consensus on the date and there should hence be no scope for confusion.
AGP member Alaka Sarma said the term of the Indira-Mujib pact between India and Bangladesh, signed in 1972, had already expired as it was valid only for 25 years.
She wanted to know how the problem of boundary disputes between the two countries would be solved in the event of the expiry of the pact, which she said was necessary to complete ongoing works of border fencing.
Ms. Sarma alleged that the fencing work had been delayed, leaving the border porous and facilitating the unabated influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh into the State.
