Removal From Voter List Does Not Mean Loss of Citizenship, Supreme Court Observes
Court says the Election Commission has no authority to decide a person's citizenship while hearing a case related to electoral roll revisions.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has observed that the removal of a person’s name from the electoral roll does not automatically mean that the individual has lost Indian citizenship.
The observation was made during a hearing related to the functioning of appellate tribunals in West Bengal that deal with challenges to the removal of names from voter lists. The Bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohan, referred to earlier judicial rulings and stated that the Election Commission of India does not have the legal authority to determine a person’s citizenship.
During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner informed the court that nearly 34 lakh appeals are currently pending before the tribunals, while only around 38,000 cases have been decided so far. According to the submissions, about 70 percent of the decided appeals resulted in the restoration of the applicants’ names in the voter list.
The petitioner’s lawyer also argued that despite the large number of pending appeals, the West Bengal government had issued a notification under which people whose names were removed from the electoral roll were allegedly being denied benefits under the Public Distribution System and other welfare schemes. It was also claimed that caste certificates were being withheld in such cases.
The counsel further submitted that a valid Indian passport should be treated as proof of citizenship. However, the issue remains under discussion, as the Ministry of External Affairs has previously stated that a passport is primarily a travel document and not conclusive proof of citizenship.
Taking note of the issues raised, the Supreme Court directed that the matter be heard along with other pending petitions challenging the voter list revision process in West Bengal.
Earlier this week, the court had also observed that people whose names are removed from the electoral roll should continue to receive essential welfare benefits, including subsidised food under the Public Distribution System, until the legal process is completed.
The Supreme Court had made similar observations in May while hearing petitions related to voter list revision in Bihar. At that time, the court clarified that while the Election Commission may verify documents for electoral roll inclusion, it does not have the authority to decide whether a person is an Indian citizen.