The worst fears of people about inherent dangers of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls seem to be coming true. Allegations are that the Election Commission (EC) is supplanting existing laws and turning a blind eye to valid points raised by the Opposition about big percentage of electorate being left out of the rolls. Doubts about the SIR becoming a tool to deprive people of their citizenship are getting strengthened by the day with reports of denial of various social welfare schemes and even refusal for renewal of passports to those whose names have been deleted from the final electoral rolls after SIR was made are pouring in.
The issue is back in focus after a senior journalist complained that his passport is not being renewed by authorities on the grounds that his name was deleted during the recent SIR in West Bengal due to what is known as logical discrepancy. There are large number of complaints from people that they are being denied benefits of social welfare schemes for the same reason.
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Ironically, the apex court while hearing a bunch of petitions against SIR observed that the ECI only has the right to decide whether names included in the electoral rolls during SIR are bona fide or not. It is not the ECI’s remit to decide whether a voter is a citizen of the country or not. The apex court ruled that as per provisions of the law in case of doubts ECI may refer cases to the “competent authority” meaning the Union Home Ministry for deciding the citizenship question.
However, shocking revelations are now coming to the fore. At a recent event, former SC judge Justice Madan B Lokur said a passport has effectively been reduced to a bus ticket, even though treating the passport in this cavalier fashion, as has been done by the Centre, is a “misreading” of the law. The judge went to the lengths of calling ECI “an empire within an empire” and condemned the linking of access to government social welfare benefits to the SIR exercise.
A controversy has erupted after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) recently stated that a passport is primarily a “travel document” and not conclusive proof of Indian citizenship. However, the Preamble of the Passports Act 1967 says that it is a law to “provide for the issue of passports and travel documents to regulate the departure from India of citizens of India and for other persons.” This makes it clear that the law makes a distinction between a passport and a travel document. As such to say that a passport is nothing but a travel document is a travesty of the truth.
The odd stand taken by the MEA on the passport is creating a situation where there is no document to prove citizenship since the voter identity card and Aadhaar card have already been discarded as proof of citizenship. Even during the recent SIR the passport was being treated as a “mother document” to prove bona fide citizenship since it is issued after thorough police verification. Now even the passport is being treated as a mere travel document.
The Constitution of India gives certain fundamental rights to citizens and amongst the most important rights are the ones under Article 19 of the Constitution. These are only granted to citizens. As such it would be tantamount to gross violation of the law of the land if a person is not considered a citizen of the country if she or he does not satisfy the recent specific requirements of the ECI and is therefore denied voting rights.
The SIR has from the beginning been dogged by controversy as it is perceived to be a tool being used by the ruling BJP government at Centre to deny a particular section of the community the right to vote. It is alleged that since the Centre failed to carry out the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the face of stiff resistance from people, it is using the ECI and SIR for the same effect.
Putting citizens through a tortuous merry go round to prove citizenship over and over again, spending the citizens’ tax-paid money, looks to be the newest fun game for the ones in charge.
