New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India reiterated that the Election Commission of India does not possess the constitutional or statutory authority to determine the citizenship status of individuals. The observations were made by a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana while hearing a fresh plea concerning the exclusion of deleted voters from public welfare schemes. Recalling its earlier landmark judgment on the Special Intensive Revision in Bihar, the bench emphasized that the poll body’s mandate under Article 324 is strictly confined to the preparation, maintenance, and superintendence of accurate electoral rolls. Justice Bagchi explicitly noted that while the commission can conduct a limited inquiry to decide voting eligibility, it cannot assume the role of a final adjudicating authority on nationality.
The apex court clarified the precise legal framework to be followed when the poll body encounters cases of suspected or doubtful citizenship during voter verification drives. If the commission finds an individual’s citizenship status questionable, it holds a corresponding administrative duty to refer the matter directly to the Ministry of Home Affairs or the designated competent central authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955. The bench firmly stated that the commission cannot act as a constitutional tribunal to decide citizenship under Articles 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the Constitution, as that power remains exclusively within the domain of the Union government and its statutory tribunals.
Furthermore, the court provided critical relief regarding the legal standing of individuals under scrutiny, affirming that a person’s legal status as a citizen remains intact until a formal adjudication is completed by the competent authority under the Citizenship Act. The ruling comes amid growing concerns raised by civil rights petitioners that names removed during intensive voter roll purges were leading to immediate socioeconomic hardships, including the arbitrary denial of essential state welfare entitlements. While upholding the body’s right to maintain clean voter lists, the supreme court’s strict demarcation ensures that bureaucratic deletion from an electoral roll does not automatically translate into a declaration of alienage or statelessness.
