Jagran Opinion: Citizenship Is The Bedrock Of Voting Rights, EC Must Uphold Constitution And Law

Leaders of the INDI Alliance and political parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party are vehemently opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar by the Election Commission of India. They have even moved the Supreme Court and sought the apex court’s intervention to stop the exercise. Those opposing the revision say that since the Bihar Assembly elections are due in November, 2025, the time is too short for an SIR. The commission has argued that it can complete the exercise well in time. But, as can be discerned by the arguments of those opposing the SIR, the crux of the issue is that they do not want the Election Commission to seek proof of citizenship of every voter.

The matter was also argued before the Supreme Court by their lawyers. But, if this argument is accepted, it will violate the specific powers vested in the Election Commission by the Constitution and the law made by Parliament to ensure that only citizens of India are eligible voters. It will also open the floodgates for the illegal immigrants and cross-border infiltrators to smuggle themselves into our electoral rolls and pose a grave danger to the unity and integrity of India.

This also has serious implications for governance because under the Constitution, every voter above the age of 25 is eligible to be an MLA or an MP and as a consequence even become the chief minister of a state or the prime minister of the country. Therefore, the Election Commission has a major responsibility to ensure that non-citizens do not become voters.

The powers of the Election Commission of India are clearly stated in the Constitution. Article 324 vests the commission with the power and authority for “superintendence, direction and control” of elections and preparation of electoral rolls.

In regards to the preparation of electoral rolls, Article 326 of the Constitution declares that the elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assembly of every State shall be on the basis of adult suffrage; “that is to say, every person who is a citizen of India and who is not less than eighteen years of age on such date as may be fixed in that behalf and is not otherwise disqualified under this Constitution or any law of non-residence, unsoundness of mind, crime or corrupt or illegal practice, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such election”.

Further, this stipulation regarding citizenship is reinforced by Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 which says “every person who is not a citizen of India is not eligible to be registered as a voter”.

Thus, both the Constitution and the election law made by Parliament explicitly state that only citizens can be enrolled as voters. After all this, it seems absurd to say that the Election Commission should not insist on this qualification.

Section 14 of the RP Act, 1950 also states that the qualifying date is relation to preparation of electoral rolls can be the first of January, first of April, first of July and the first of October of the year in which it is prepared.

Section 21 empowers the Election Commission to prepare and revise electoral rolls in the prescribed manner with reference to the qualifying date before each general election to the House of the People or to the Legislative Assembly of a State.

Given these provisions which explicitly empower the Election Commission to undertake the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, it is difficult to understand the argument of some political parties which are opposed to this exercise.

For those who are unaware, there was a case within the Nehru-Gandhi household itself of a non-citizen becoming a voter and having been removed from the electoral rolls following a complaint from an alert citizen.

The story dates back to January, 1980 when the electoral rolls were revised or updated in Delhi. In that revision, the name of Sonia Gandhi was included in the Voters’ List although at that time she was a citizen of Italy.

Under the Representation of People Act, 1951, as it prevailed at that time, a voter was required to fill a form providing name, address, date of birth etc and declare that he or she is a citizen of India. On verification of these claims, the election authorities enter the person’s name in the Voters’ List. Also, under that law, any false claim or misrepresentation made in the declaration could entail Simple Imprisonment of up to six months.

Sonia Gandhi, whose maiden name was Antonia Maino married Rajiv Gandhi, son of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1968. Although under the Citizenship Act, she was entitled to apply for Indian citizenship five years after her marriage in 1973, she did not do so. However, although she retained her Italian citizenship, her name was included in the voters’ list pertaining to New Delhi parliamentary constituency along with that of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi in the revision that took place in January, 1980.

Following the tragic demise of Indira Gandhi’s second son, Sanjay Gandhi, in an airplane crash in June, 1980, Mrs Gandhi persuaded her elder son Rajiv Gandhi, who was an Indian Airlines pilot, to quit his job and join politics. Rajiv dutifully did so to help his mother. Thereafter, Mrs Gandhi appointed him as General Secretary of the Congress Party. 

With Rajiv’s formal entry into politics, Sonia Gandhi retaining her Italian citizenship would seem odd and would give the Congress Party’s opponents a strong point to criticize the Nehru-Gandhi family and question their patriotism. Therefore, Sonia Gandhi finally applied for citizenship on April 7, 1983 and was granted Indian citizenship on April 30, 1983.

However, as stated earlier Sonia Gandhi’s name was included in the Voters’ List in 1980. When this was detected, an alert citizen wrote to Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi and questioned the entry. Consequent to this complaint, Sonia’s name was deleted from the voters’ list in 1982.

Given this fiasco regarding Sonia Gandhi, who was president of the Congress Party for long years, it appears strange that Congress members contend that citizenship should not be an issue when determining the right to vote.

The Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Mr Rahul Gandhi has exhorted the Election Commission not to work for the BJP, but “to work for the law”. That is exactly what the Election Commission must do. It has the power and authority for “superintendence, direction and control” of elections under Article 324. More importantly, when it comes to drawing up electoral rolls, Article 326 and the election law makes it very clear that only citizens can be eligible voters. The Election Commission is duty-bound to adhere to this. It cannot allow non-citizens to slip into the voters’ list.

(The author is an expert on democratic issues and a senior columnist. The views expressed are his own.)