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SIR Issue: Justice Bagchi emphasized during the hearing that the issue of citizenship can be decided by the Election Commission? His job is to see whether a person is an Indian citizen or not.
SIR Issue : A petition was filed in the Supreme Court regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) going on in many states including Bihar, saying that the Election Commission is violating its jurisdiction. While hearing this case, the top court asked whether the Election Commission is investigating the case of any suspicious citizen. Apart from this, is the investigation process beyond the scope of its constitutional power? These comments were made by the bench of Chief Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi during the final hearing on the petitions challenging the Election Commission’s decision to conduct SIR going on in many states.
EC cannot decide civil issue
Justice Bagchi emphasized during the hearing that the issue of citizenship can be decided by the Election Commission? Its job is to check whether a person is an Indian citizen, above 18 years of age and ordinarily resides in a constituency. The court also said that the issue of citizenship cannot be decided by the Election Commission because only the Foreigners’ Tribunal appointed by the Central Government can decide this. You said that the Election Commission does not have the power to declare any person a foreigner or a non-citizen. But after coming under suspicion, the matter can be sent to the authorities for investigation.
Voters are decided on three conditions
The petitioner argued in the Supreme Court that the revision process involves violation of jurisdiction, irregularity of process and unconstitutionally putting the burden of proving citizenship on the common voters. Senior advocate Shadan Farasat, representing the petitioner, traced the constitutional and statutory framework governing the electoral lists and said Articles 324 to 329, together with the Representation of the People Act (RPA), form a single constitutional code. He said that according to Article 326, a citizen has to fulfill only three conditions, which include Indian citizenship, attainment of 18 years of age and absence of certain disqualifications. But a new basis cannot be created for excluding the electoral list. The lawyer said that there is no basis for the Election Commission to exclude a citizen from the list. He said that if the EC has power over my citizenship then it should be sent only to the District Magistrate for investigation. Apart from this, only the Center and Foreigners Tribunal can do this.
Independent decision is needed
He said that citizenship is not a prerequisite for inclusion under the legal scheme for the first time and the burden of proving non-citizenship always lies on the state. He further said that once a person is included in the list, his position has strong presumptive value and removal requires a thorough, independent decision by the electoral authorities. On this the bench asked whether there is a difference between decision and investigation? Can ECI investigate cases involving suspected citizens?
