New Delhi: Amidst the ongoing row over whether a passport is a valid document to prove one’s Indian citizenship, the Election Commission has said that
it is among one of the 12 valid documents to get your names on the voters list. The EC said that if one holds an Indian passport, he or she can use it as a proof of citizenship and get their names on the voters list, amidst the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
An official from the Commission was quoted by PTI as saying, “Passport was and continues to be one of the documents to establish identity.” He added, “There is no change.”
During the Bihar SIR and also the SIR exercise in Assam, the EC had listed passport as a document, which people can use to assert their Indian citizenship and get their names added to the voters list and also verify their names, if it is already there.
The clarification by the EC comes amidst an ongoing row over whether a passport is a valid document to prove Indian citizenship. The issue began after a senior Ministry of External Affairs official said at a function to mark the 14th Passport Seva Divas, that “a passport was primarily a travel document and should not be regarded as a proof of citizenship.”
The Centre also reiterated the same stand, after the Opposition and common people questioned the official stand. The government released a statement saying that the Indian passport had “never been treated as conclusive proof of citizenship.” It further said that this was not a new thing and had been an established fact.
They also quoted a Bombay High Court ruling to prove the official’s version. They said that the High Court had ruled in 2013 that the possession of a passport alone does not establish Indian citizenship, said a report in the Times of India.
The government further said that in special cases, the passport is also issued to people who are not Indian citizens. They quoted Section 20 of the Passports Act, 1967. It reads, “Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions relating to issue of a passport or travel document, the Central Government may issue, or cause to be issued, a passport or travel document to a person who is not a citizen of India if that Government is of the opinion that it is necessary so to do in the public interest.”
