The Election Commission of India (ECI) has dismissed arguments raised in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) case by Opposition parties that only the Union government has exclusive authority to scrutinise citizenship, saying the Centre’s power is “limited” to inquiring into the circumstances in which Indian citizens voluntarily acquired foreign citizenship.
The Commission referred to Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which deals with the termination of citizenship in cases of voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship. Section 9 vests in the Centre the authority to determine “when or how” an Indian citizen acquired foreign citizenship.
“The powers of the Central government are confined to reviewing the acquisition of foreign citizenship, and whether, based on such acquisition, the Indian citizenship of a person should be terminated… It is only for this limited purpose that the exclusive jurisdiction has been vested in the Centre, to the exclusion of all other authorities. Every other aspect related to citizenship can be inquired into by other authorities,” the ECI argued in a 184-page affidavit.
Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal have described SIR as citizenship screening. Parties, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, have alleged that the ECI is misusing the revision of electoral rolls to conduct a “de novo National Register of Citizens”.
