New Delhi: The Election Commission has been conducting a special revision of the voter list for some time. Occasionally, due to certain discrepancies, names are being dropped from the list, leading to confusion among the public. People often wonder if the absence of their name from the voter list poses a threat to their citizenship status.
The removal of names from the voter list has sparked confusion regarding citizenship, a matter on which the Supreme Court has provided a categorical response. The Court clearly stated that citizenship is not automatically revoked simply because a name is missing from the voter list; there is a separate legal process for determining citizenship. Details regarding the Supreme Court’s observations on the petition concerning the Special Summary Revision (SSR) process are provided below.
Supreme Court’s Significant Observation
While hearing a petition related to the SSR process for voter lists, the Supreme Court made a significant observation on Friday. The Court stated that determining citizenship does not fall within the Election Commission’s constitutional mandate; the Commission’s authority is limited to the control and supervision of the voter list. The apex court also clarified that there is no ambiguity regarding the position of the law on this matter.
The Court further noted that if a tribunal rules against including an individual’s name in the SSR list, the Election Commission is required to refer the matter to the relevant ministry for citizenship determination. Citizenship is not automatically terminated due to the absence of a name from the voter list. The Supreme Court has also admitted the petition for a hearing.
Next Hearing on August 25
The petition filed in the Supreme Court seeks information based on West Bengal’s assembly constituencies. The Court has scheduled the next hearing for August 25. The apex court has previously clarified that the Election Commission does not possess the authority to determine an individual’s citizenship, reiterating that the SSR and voter list processes have no bearing on citizenship status. It is worth noting that a video from Jharkhand recently went viral on social media.
The video, which highlighted alleged extortion linked to the filling of SIR forms, claimed that amounts ranging from ₹50 to ₹100 were being collected under the pretext of filling out these forms to prevent the loss of citizenship. This money was being collected under the guise of covering incidental expenses. The Election Commission is carrying out the SIR exercise with the aim of rectifying the voter list. This involves removing incorrect entries from the list.
