During the Bihar SIR, Assam’s special revision, and subsequent phases of electoral roll revision, passports have consistently been listed as one of the 12 documents that individuals can submit when applying to register or maintain their status on the electoral rolls.
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Thursday said that an Indian passport is among the 12 valid documents required by voters to prove eligibility to be on the voters’ list amid the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.”Passport was and continues to be one of the documents to establish identity,” an official said, underlining that “there is no change”.During the Bihar SIR, Assam’s special revision, and subsequent phases of electoral roll revision, passports have consistently been listed as one of the 12 documents that individuals can submit when applying to register or maintain their status on the electoral rolls.This comes after the ministry of external affairs said that an Indian passport is “primarily a travel document” and should not be regarded as proof of citizenship.Speaking at an event marking the 14th Passport Seva Divas, a senior MEA official said that while a passport attests to the nationality of Indians when they are abroad, citizenship is determined under separate legal provisions.The Centre also issued a clarification asserting that an Indian passport has “never been treated as conclusive proof of citizenship”, stressing that the position is neither new nor recently adopted. Defending the position, the government cited Section 20 of the Passports Act, 1967, which empowers the Centre to issue passports or travel documents to non-citizens in certain circumstances.The provision states: “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.”According to the government, the legal position has also been upheld by courts, including the Bombay High Court, which ruled in 2013 that possession of a passport alone does not establish Indian citizenship, news agency ANI reported.Official sources suggested that the Bombay High Court’s 2013 judgment made it clear that a passport is not proof of citizenship.On December 20, 2019, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) issued a comprehensive explainer in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).It said: “Citizenship can be proved by submitting any documents related to date of birth and place of birth. However, a decision is yet to be taken on such acceptable documents.”The PIB also said in the FAQs that the citizenship of any person is decided on the basis of the Citizenship Rules, 2009. These rules are based on the Citizenship Act, 1955.It said there are five ways for a person to become a citizen of India: citizenship by birth, citizenship by descent, citizenship by registration, citizenship by naturalisation and citizenship by incorporation.
